Chasing Kates
by ElaineAbbene
Summary: She used to be his chaser, but when he runs into her 4 years later, Oliver Wood barely recognizes her. She's beautiful and mysterious, and this Pro Keeper from Puddlemere is going to do whatever it takes to keep her in his life. She has her hands full raising a younger brother and keeping up with the bills. She just doesn't have time for romance, unless Oliver can change her mind.
1. Pressure

Stepping onto the Knight Bus, Katie cursed the coins she had to hand over to the driver before drifting to the closest seat. Letting the jolting bus relax her, she wished she could have just apparated, but after three days of no sleep, she didn't think that was very practical. Pulling out the pocketwatch that her parents had given her for her seventeenth birthday, she checked the time, simultaneously wondering how much she could pawn the watch for before scolding herself. The golden watch decorated with rubies was not something to be pawned, it was a family heirloom. Passed from mother to daughter over the years, the watch was at least a few centuries old.

She knew she was late, and she hoped David understood. Today was his first day of mini-league at the park, and she hoped he wasn't embarrassed or made fun of by the other children because she was late. He was extremely sensitive for a six year old, but he had gone through things no six year old should have had to experience.

 _Thinking back to a mere eighteen months ago,_ she knew that her hospital stay had affected him. She had been cursed by a necklace and in St. Mungos on the brink of death and insanity for several months before returning to school after Christmas. Now, looking back, her seventh year holiday at the end of her recovery had been the best time of her life. Her family had enjoyed a quiet Christmas together, ignoring the rumors of darkness rising around them.

By Easter, the Bell family had been unable to ignore the threats any longer when she had come home from Hogwarts to find that her parents had both gone missing the day before. She and David had been assured by Kingsley that they would find their parents, and they had, two days later with the dark mark floating ominously above their bodies.

The murders had been hushed up by the ministry who didn't want to alarm the public at the murder of two high standing pure bloods such as Walter and Patricia Bell. Nothing had even appeared in the papers, and the funeral had been exceedingly small, attended only by Katie, David, their mother's squib sister Aunt Theresa with her husband Uncle Harvy, and some of the Aurors that her father had worked with at the ministry. After the funeral, Katie had invited everyone back to her parent's house, no it was her house now.

The implications of her parents death had meant a multitude of things for the young eighteen year old, the least of which being custody of her five year old brother. In charge of the Bell estate, she had thought to come into quite a bit of money, but her parents hadn't planned on dying anytime soon and hadn't written a will if such a thing were to happen. Instead, according to ancient wizard custom and law, everything had gone to her brother, but he couldn't inherit it until he turned seventeen. It was a sexist law that favored male heirs and patriarchal society, but was entirely impractical and posed many problems for Katie. The ministry had sealed off all of her parent's assets until David was of age to inherit them, and now she had been left with nothing but the small amount of money that her parents had put in her Gringots account that she had gotten when she turned seventeen. Lately a large portion of that money seemed to be going toward uncomfortable rides on the Knight Bus.

Knowing that Katie wouldn't be able to support herself and her brother without a Hogwarts diploma, Aunt Teresa had volunteered to care for David in the months she had remaining at school. This way she could continue with her NEWTs in hopes that she would still join the Healer Trainee Program, and begin work immediately. This had worked out, and Katie had almost been able to forget the responsibilities that lay ahead of her during those last months of school. However, upon stepping off the Express at the beginning of June, she had come face to face with her five year old brother.

"Aunt Teresa told me to give you this," he had said handing her a note. Katie had looked curiously at the old Hogwarts trunk reading _Walter Bell_ and the bag that he had with him. Reading the note, Katie's eyes widened. Her aunt and uncle were leaving the country. He was a muggle, and she was a squib, which was basically the same as a muggle in the eyes of death eaters. It was now becoming evident that a second war was imminent, and they were getting out while they could. Her Aunt informed her that they were leaving them with a bit of money to help for the summer, but not to try and contact them as they would be in hiding. She wished her the best, and told her to remain low profile as the war progressed. David was already an orphan, he didn't need to lose the only family he had left to him.

Looking in David's bag, she had found all of his things, plus some extra things that her Aunt had given them such as some sets of sheets, some books and photo albums, and emergency muggle money, all packed into a bag with a spacious charm on it to contain more things weightlessly. Taking the suitcases, all of which were too heavy for her brother, she had shrunken her father's old trunk and placed it in the weightless bag, allowing him to carry the smaller pack on his back. Dragging her heavy Hogwarts Trunk behind her with the family pet owl Rudolph strapped to the trunk, she had set out on her first adventure as a single parent of a five year old in London with little to no money.

It was the middle of a London June rainstorm when they exited the station. Being unable to put a water repelling charm on herself and her brother in front of the muggles, the two had been soaked on the long trudge from the train station to their destination that Katie still hadn't decided on. After wandering through London for several hours, they had arrived fortuitously at a cozy muggle tea shop where they had warmed up and dried off over a few cups of tea and some cookies for David. Cajoling the waitress out of a copy of the muggle paper, Katie had set about looking through the ads for an apartment.

The elderly shop owner had popped over to see how the siblings were doing, asking what they were looking for in the ads. Seeing the two waterlogged siblings pouring over the paper had made the woman curious. Katie hadn't paid much attention to her brother striking up a conversation with the woman as she had been busy trying to convert pounds into wizarding money to decide how much they could spend on a flat each month.

She had been interrupted from her mathematical dilemma when the woman had addressed her with the question, "Are you really looking for an apartment then? For the two of you? Your brother David here said that your parents died a few months ago, and he's been staying with his aunt, but now the two of you are starting off on your own because she had to leave the country with her husband?" Katie had nodded, too stunned that David had been that open with the woman in the few minutes she hadn't been paying attention to him. He was a very shy child and didn't talk much, although this woman did have a very nice look to her. "I have a small flat upstairs I'm trying to rent out. My daughter lived there for several years but she got married a few months back and I've been looking for a respectable person to put up. I don't want some stranger up there when I come in to open shop in the morning, and I want someone I can trust. You have a very trustworthy quality to you and you obviously need some help. Would you like to look at the place?" asked the woman. Katie's eyes had widened at the good fortune.

"Why yes, it's not every day that something like this falls into your lap!" said Katie. "Katherine Bell, but you may call me Katie," she said holding out her hand for the woman to shake.

"Maggie, Maggie Patterson," said the woman with a kind smile. "So do you attend school Katie?" she had asked as she led them to the back of the shop behind the kitchen while they dragged their luggage.

"I'm going to be working at a hospital as an intern, I'm training to be a doctor," replied Katie, grateful she had taken a year of muggle studies and knew that they didn't call them healers. She had accepted the position at St. Mungo's the week before Easter holidays.

"You're much older than you look, I would have only taken you for about twenty, but already through med school huh?"

"I'm eighteen, I er… graduated early," replied Katie nervously as she didn't want to lie about her age to the woman and then have it found out that she was so young. The woman seemed pleased to find that Katie was quite smart too.

Seeing the flat, it had been perfect for the two of them. The main room consisted of a small kitchen and living room area. It had a few bright windows, and looked clean if just a bit old looking. Mrs. Patterson told them that they could have it fully furnished as she didn't need the furniture as long as they took good care of the things. There was a small bathroom, an office room which Katie knew could be converted into a bedroom for David, and a bedroom for herself where she could keep her books. It was small, much smaller than the large country home she had grown up in, but it would do for now, and Maggie offered a great price of three hundred pounds a month if they kept it nice and didn't cause disturbances in her tea shop.

Katie was jolted from her random thoughts as she realized she owed Mrs. Patterson the three hundred pounds for August. She would need to go to Gringots and get it tomorrow, but tonight would be better if she could. However, she had been working long shifts at the muggle bar where she had found a job recently. Working In the bar Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights supplemented their income in a way that her job at St. Mungo's couldn't. They had long since run out of the one thousand pounds that her Aunt had given her with the paying of the first month's rent combined with the cost of a seven AM to six PM daycare for David. Between daycare, rent, and the cost of food, they were just making it after just over a full year on their own living above Maggie's shop and somehow surviving through to the end of the war. Unfortunately for the Bells, the end of the war hadn't been the end of their problems.

The past two days, she had gone to healer training from early in the morning to five and then worked from six to three a.m. at the pub after picking up David from day care and dropping him off with Mrs. Patterson who was able to watch him for her in the evenings. The woman said she enjoyed spending time with him, and she was one of the few people that David seemed to open up to, so Katie accepted her offers to babysit gratefully. However, the last few days she had been taking tests during Healer Training and had spent the rest of her time studying, giving her absolutely no sleep over the past week.

Suddenly, the bus jolted to a stop at her destination. Katie realized how lucky she was not to have missed the park where she had signed David up for a fall quidditch league. He had been so depressed since the deaths of their parents. He was no longer the loud obnoxious brother who ran around the house getting into everything, making messes, and stealing wands to try magic. He no longer begged Katie to fly with him whenever he got the chance, but instead was reserved, quiet even. He opened up to Katie, talking to her, but he had made no friends in his muggle day care class, and she hoped perhaps being around some magical children his age would help him adjust.

Getting off the bus, she passed the entrance to the park and walked past the playground with its swings that looked like broomsticks and the jungle gym shaped like a dragon with the slide as the dragon's tail. She remembered coming to this very park as a small girl with her parents after they had moved from Ireland when she was seven. She had been in the same quidditch league. She passed the picnicking area and reached the quidditch fields. She could tell that the rest of the children were gone, but she saw her brother flying on her old broom at the opposite end of the field. The late afternoon sunshine was glistening off his golden blond hair that was only a shade darker than her own.

Dragging her feet, she approached the floating figure and called up to him. "Davie!" she waved as she got his attention, and he flew down to her. She felt really bad for having left him here. Didn't his coach stay until he was picked up? She was only twenty minutes late.

"Katie!" he exclaimed, his entire face brightening when he saw her. "I LOVE QUIDDITCH! I PLAYED CHASER AND THE COACH THOUGHT I WAS SO GOOD! I MADE LOTS OF GOALS AND HE SAID I HAVE REAL POTENTIAL! WE PRACTICED A BIT AFTER EVERYONE ELSE LEFT BUT THEN WE LOST THE BALL IN THE WOODS AND SO HE WENT TO GET ANOTHER ONE AND THEN WE'RE GOING TO PLAY SOME MORE! AND IT'S SO FUN!"

Katie gaped at her brother. This was more than he had said at one time in months, and he hadn't seemed this excited about anything since last Christmas when she gave him her old broom. "That's great Davie, I can't wait to hear all about everything, but we need to get back to the bus stop so we can take the muggle bus home."

"Aww Katie do we have to? Can't you just apparate us home?" he whined.

"Sorry Davie, I am a bit too tired to try, I don't want to splinch us. Besides, then you can tell me your stories on the bus."

"Well, we can't leave yet, my coach has to come back, and he said that he wanted to give me something before I left. I want to play a little longer too, please, please, pretty please with fairy dust on top?" He made a puppy dog face that he knew she couldn't resist. Those light green eyes of his were hard to resist. No wonder her father had given her everything she had ever wanted.

"I'm sure your coach is mad I'm late and will be glad to get you out of their hair. They are probably very busy and have their own family to get home to," replied Katie trying to fix her hair. She had worn it curly the night before for work and hadn't had time to shower or redo her hair so it was up in a very curly blond ponytail that was tickling her neck and trying to escape. Brushing the hair away with her hand, she put her hands on her hips to show David that she meant business.

"Ohh, hello! You've arrived," came a deep voice from behind her. Katie whirled so fast she was pretty sure that her brother had been whipped with her St. Mungo's robes. A tall burly man with messy windswept brown hair was approaching rapidly holding a shiny, well polished broom and a bright red quaffle. Katie's jaw dropped open as she stared at the man.

 ***Keep* tuned for my next update, hopefully next week... I REALLY appreciate reviews. Please let me know what you think. This fic is well underway and I'll be updating regularly. This is my first new story in ages. Feedback is very motivational and lets me know what you all think! Thanks! E.A.**


	2. The Longest Time

"OLIVER WOOD!" Katie shrieked rushing to him and giving him a hug. She hadn't seen him in the four years since he had graduated. Oh the memories she had with him, being great friends during their years at Hogwarts and then writing a bit after his graduation. The correspondence had died down when she realized how busy he was playing for Puddlemere United and not seeing him every day had allowed her to forget the huge crush she had harbored for the handsome quidditch captain.

Pulling away and looking to see if his bright blue eyes, strong jaw and chin, crooked smirk-like smile, and messy brown hair had changed over years, she smiled. Not a bit, every bit as handsome if not more so. Of course, she had seen pictures in magazines of the hot young quidditch star, but this was different. This was real live Oliver, her first and only crush if you didn't count the time she had thought she liked George Weasley in her sixth year and then realized he was perfect for Angelina.

"See kid, this is what I'm talking about, keep playing like you're playing, and with enough hard work and the amount of talent you have, you could be a famous professional quidditch player like me with all the beautiful ladies chasing after you," said Oliver with a laugh as he sort of brushed her off him awkwardly.

"Eww, but she's gross," laughed David causing Oliver to wink at Katie with a grin.

"Now, you may be wondering what a famous quidditch player like me is doing here," began Oliver in his familiar Scottish drawl. However, there was something else familiar to Katie about this tone, it was his pregame lecture tone, his post game speech tone, his going over new plays in the locker room at six a.m. tone. Great. Not only was she getting a lecture, but he didn't remember her. She had been in love with the bloody quidditch obsessed idiot for the better part of her teenage years, and she had obviously meant nothing to him as he didn't remember her in the slightest.

She had known him since she was seven, when her parents had moved to England and introduced her to their long time friends from their school days, Mr. and Mrs. Wood. How did he not remember her?

"I have a deep ingrained love of quidditch which was instilled in me by my father who was inspired by his father before him. My passion for quidditch is what drives me to play professionally, work hard, and do my best for Puddlemere, but I felt something was missing in my life. I knew nothing could be more rewarding and fulfilling than instilling my love for the game in wonderful young people like Dave here." Katie noticed that his eyes were taking on that maniacal glint that appeared whenever he began talking excitedly about quidditch. If one thing about Oliver hadn't changed it was his love for the game. Oh, these pre-practice type talks really got to her, always made her sleepy, or maybe she just came to them sleepy, she didn't remember. She was sleepy now anyways. She bit back a yawn as he continued.

"This league gives me an opportunity to share my talent with others and help mold them into not only aspiring quidditch players, but respectful young witches and wizards. I will teach them teamwork, hard work, respect, diligence, confidence, …" More like Oliver just wanted to start early recruiting of future players for when he became coach for Puddlemere United. If he discovered them now, he could have them trained to perfection by the time they were ready to graduate Hogwarts. And of course they would also captain the Gryffindor team to every victory. She couldn't keep awake for this much longer, after all she hadn't gotten sleep in days. Thank Merlin tonight was Friday and she wasn't due at the bar until Monday and had the weekend off, free to spend her time with David. She yawned, not paying attention to him a bit and felt her eyes drift closed.

Meanwhile, Oliver went on with his speech until finally looking up after a long part during which he had directed his comments toward the young boy David. David's older sister didn't look like she was hanging onto his every word like the mothers and fathers of the other children had earlier. Was she, was she asleep? Standing up? Looking at her closely, he suddenly saw it. Amazed he paused in his speech and gazed at what he had at first seen as an unusually pretty and enthusiastic blond fan girl. Her hair wasn't usually curled, if he remembered correctly, and he was sure he did, she wore it straight. Her pale green eyes were closed, but he knew the color by heart and the way she was leaning on her brother's broom that now looked as if it could have belonged to her before, he knew without a doubt it was Katie Bell. He hadn't seen her in four years, but my, she had really grown into that potential.

"KATES!" he barked midsentence in his speech which he had mindlessly continued after his pause. She jolted awake, blushing like always and pretending she had never been asleep.

"I wasn't asleep Oliver, I know the exact play you were talking about, that one where Ang passes to me from the right and then I do that maneuver around the opponent and then fake to Alicia and BAM! Left Hoop," she recited looking startled and obviously disoriented. Oliver remembered this occurring at practices, she always would say they were working on play 14, but somehow he had never caught on to this oddity.

"Actually Bell, we aren't even at practice, and no, that wasn't the play, Ang passed from the _left_ and then you did the maneuver which is called a channon cannon crawl and then faked to Alicia and then left hoop."

"What?" said Katie rubbing her eyes. Suddenly she realized where she was and blushed again.

"I'm sorry I didn't recognize you earlier, but when I saw you sleeping like that, I knew that it was you. You were the only one who could ever sleep through my wonderfully prepared speeches."

"Ha, well, if your voice didn't have that magical lull to it, it wouldn't put me to sleep all the time," joked Katie with a grin as he pulled her in for a real hug.

Holding her at arms length, he examined her as she blushed. She had done basically the same to him, but he hadn't changed much since his seventh year. The last time she had seen him she was a fifteen year old fourth year who had barely hit puberty.

"I can't believe I didn't recognize you! You've changed so much! Four years did you good Bells," he said tucking a stray blond curl behind her ear. "You seem so grown up now, but you still make me want to protect you from the world! If you have anyone you aren't particularly fond of, now would be an opportune time to tell me because I am up for it," he joked.

"No one on the slytherin quidditch team has been harassing me lately, but thanks for the offer Ollie," she said with a small smile.

"Well, the offer still stands. Remember last time? I got Montague good," a silly grin spread across Oliver's face at the memory.

"Yeah, and you broke three bones in your hand and ended up in detention with Minnie for a month!"

"Ah yes, I remember it well," he said dreamily. Katie laughed and punched him in the arm. Looking at her, his joking manner disappeared. "You really turned out to be something. Merlin, it's good to see you Kates." It was as if her heart wanted to preserve the moment and stop beating, but alas, time moved on as Katie heard something akin to the words she had been dying to hear for years. Oliver William Wood professing his undying passion for her. Not quite, but close enough to make her grin like a lunatic. "I thought about trying to get some people together back… you know after… but I knew it would be too hard without…"

"HELLO! I'M STILL STANDING RIGHT HERE!? IS THERE SOMETHING I MISSED!?" came the loud voice of her little brother, thoroughly destroying the moment.

"Hey Dave, bet you didn't know that your sister and I were great friends in school. We were on the quidditch team and got along brilliantly on and off the field, except when your sister was sleeping through my speeches."

"Or when you made me get up at ungodly hours to practice!" interjected Katie.

"Oh, so you know each other, well that's nice, but I want to play some quidditch!"

"Davie, it's getting late, and we really need to catch that bus home," said Katie, once again realizing the time and how tired she was. "I promise we'll come back soon and practice before next Wednesday's practice. It will be fun, and then maybe we could get an ice cream."

"But I wana play now, you're going to be too busy, you work three nights next week! I want to be the best quidditch player ever, and if I want to do that, I have to practice!" He made the puppy dog face, and Katie felt her resolve slipping.

"You know Dave, I'm not very busy on Sunday afternoons. My flat mates go to their mum's to eat the best food in the world and don't even invite me. I might be free to play some quidditch with you if you wanted to play. I bet Katie would like to play too, and then we can have two chasers and a keeper!"

"Oh boy! That would be brilliant! Can we Katie, Katie, Katie, Katie, please!" he whined.

"Yeah, that sounds like fun. Thanks for the invitation Oliver, why don't you owl us with the details. We're free all day, so we can work around your schedule," she said feeling very tired.

"Okay, well, it was really, and I mean _really_ good to see you Kates. And Dave, it was great to meet you young man. I'm looking forward to Sunday, and in the meantime, I think you should take this with you to practice handling it a bit. Just don't break anything, buddy. Great practice and I'm expecting great things from you this season," said Oliver handing David a quaffle as the boy's eyes lit up. Katie's eyes widened to see Oliver's maniac quidditch expression mirrored on her own brother's face. _Oh, no!_ "I'll owl you Kate," he said giving her a final hug and ruffling David's hair as they both said their farewells and thank-you's.

"Katie, can we apparate after all?" asked David as they walked out of the park. She shook her head, too tired to argue.

"Well what am I going to do with my quaffle?" he asked holding the bright red beacon of weirdness and wizardry up for his sister to see. Huffing she pulled out her wand.

"FINE," she exclaimed grabbing the quaffle. "I have never tried this, but I know the theory, and I'm pretty sure as a healer, I'm authorized to do this in cases of emergency." Tapping the red ball and muttering under her breath, she watched the ball glow a second before holding it out to her brother. "Hand firmly on the portkey, please keep all arms and limbs within the moving vessel at all times, do not let go of the quaffle, and for Merlin's sake, do not throw up on me during transit." Before she felt the familiar pull on her navel, Katie noticed the smug glint in her brother's green eyes at his success in cajoling her out of taking the bus, not that she cared. She agreed with him, the muggle bus smelled really funny most of the time, a bit like Filch's office.

"Wow, this is really lovely, Davie," said Katie with a smile the next day. She had been keeping him occupied with some crayons while she did the laundry. "And I see you've written all our names on your picture, how smart!"

"Did I spell Oliver's name right?" he asked, excitedly indicating the brown haired figure on a broom in his picture.

"Yes, that is right! I'm so proud! You've been learning a lot in daycare! I'm sure you'll be more than ready for muggle primary school this fall."

"I can't wait to go to school! Especially Hogwarts!" exclaimed Davie, using his crayon as a wand and casting a spell on the laundry. "I'm going to play quidditch too!"

"I'm sure you will," laughed Katie taking the picture from her brother. "I'll just hang this on the fridge so I can look at it whenever I want?"

"Sure! I'm going to make another one for Oliver to give to him tomorrow."

"I'm sure he'd like that. Now, why don't you go play with your Marvin the Mad Muggle toys in your room while I whip together some casseroles that we can eat later this week?"

"Alright!" he said, gathering up his crayons and paper to take back with him to his room. Just as he was leaving their main room, he turned back with a concerned look. "But Katie, can you not make your tuna spinach one?"

"I won't make my tuna spinach casserole," she said with a roll of her eyes. "But you need to learn to like your leafy greens! They're full of potassium!"

"That sounds gross too!" laughed Davie. "No potassium casserole!" Katie couldn't help but laugh.

"Merlin! Slow down!" laughed Katie the next morning. They were meeting Oliver at the quidditch fields, and Davie couldn't get there fast enough.

"You're just not fast enough!" shot back her impatient little brother with a mischievous smile. The one she remembered from the summer before her seventh year.

"I'm the one lugging this heavy bag with all our food!" she said, feigning weariness and pretending to stop.

"I'll carry it! I can do it!" Davie quickly volunteered, rushing back down the hill to take the bag. Katie surreptitiously cast a charm at the bag as he picked it up to make it lighter. "See I'm very strong, you can carry the quaffle and the broom."

"Well thank you, and so gentlemanly of you to carry my bag," joked Katie as Davie smiled at her.

"Hey!" came a Scottish burr, announcing the arrival of Oliver. "Just on time! And I brought a broom for you Kates."

"Perfect, because this one is mine! She gave it to me for Christmas!" said Davie, grabbing the broom from his sister's hands as Katie put the food bag on the picnic table.

"Really, did you get a nice new broom then?" asked Oliver, seeming curious as to why she didn't bring it.

"No, I er… don't fly much anymore so I thought Davie would get more use out of it."

"No time to fly!" exclaimed Oliver, clutching his chest and giving a look of mock horror. "You couldn't possibly be so busy!" He tossed her the spare broom, which she realized was his Hogwarts broom.

"For your information, I don't. I'm training to be a healer, and I have another job too," she said defensively as she mounted the broom and kicked off to meet the other two who were already airborne and hovering, waiting for her to get the food and everything settled.

"Even if Katie had time to fly, she'd be too tired," David informed Oliver, causing Katie to go tomato red. "She works too much."

"I do not!" exclaimed Katie, snatching the quaffle from Oliver and zooming toward the goalposts to try and start the game.

"That's what Mrs. Patterson says!" he protested. "She says that a nice girl like you…"

"I know what she says, but can we just play quidditch!" interrupted Katie, not wishing for their personal lives to be thrown out there for Oliver to see every detail. "I thought that's what you were so excited to do!"

"Yeah!" exclaimed Davie as Oliver seemed to shrug off the tension between Katie and her brother. "Me and you against Oliver! Pass it to me!"

The game was a mix of pain and pleasure for Katie, who was old enough to remember the days when she and her mother would play against her father as keeper. The memories were painful, but good. She just hoped that one day Davie could look back on days like this and remember without pain. Despite the memories, she had a wonderful time in the air again. Surprisingly, she wasn't very rusty, and Davie made a great partner as he was a quick learner.

After they had played for almost two hours, Katie could tell that Davie was getting worn out and it was about time to eat. "I must be out of shape! I need a break," she lied, bringing the game to a halt, and although Davie protested, she could tell he wasn't used to flying so much and was glad to take a break. Oliver agreed he was hungry, and they spread the blanket out on a patch of grass under a tree just off the field. By this time there were other families and groups playing on the many fields of the park. It was after all a beautiful Sunday in July.

"What's for dinner? I'm starved!" said Oliver dramatically rubbing his stomach and pulling a long face as Katie got out the things she had packed.

"I made…"

"NOT POTASSIUM CASSEROLE!?" interjected David, a look of horror flashing across his face.

"No, I didn't make a casserole," said Katie shaking her head in exasperation. "I brought sandwiches, a fruit salad, some cucumbers and carrots, and a dessert."

"Oh good," said Davie, grabbing some carrots and biting into one with gusto.

"Does Kates make gross casseroles?" laughed Oliver, obviously amused as he bit into a sandwich.

"NO!" Katie answered defensively at the same time David said, "No."

"Well then what's wrong with casserole?" Oliver asked as Katie served out fruit on paper plates for the boys who were already eating away.

"She just makes them _all the time_."

"It's easy to throw the ingredients together ahead of time and then put in the freezer to bake after work," added Katie. "He just likes to complain because we don't get his favorite meal very often."

"And what's that?" Oliver asked David.

"Pizza!" answered David like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"And what's your least favorite food?" laughed Oliver as Katie nodded in agreement.

"Katie's tuna spinach casserole," answered David without much thought as he happily ate his fruit salad. "It's awful!"

"Ohh," said Oliver with a look at Katie who flushed and rolled her eyes. "Is it really all that bad?"

"Oh yuck yes! Not even our owl will eat it!" said Davie before flushing and looking at his sister.

"Why would Rudolph be eating people food?" she said with a stern look, trying her best to keep from laughing as she emulated McGonagall. Oliver burst out laughing and she glared at him.

"Well…. I thought, surely someone must like it so I let him try mine!" said Davie, obviously trying to come up with a valid excuse.

"Maybe he'd like to have some of your spaghetti casserole tomorrow?" asked Katie over Oliver's laughs.

"NO!" exclaimed Davie. "That one's really good Oliver! She makes great Pizza casserole too! And her pot pie casserole! And lots of others!"

"Mhm… I'm sure Kates here is a good cook. This meal is delicious!"

"And I made cookies too!" said Katie, glad to get away from the topic of casseroles. She was well aware her brother was a little tired of them, but they were cheap and easy and healthy, which was as much as she could hope for.

"COOKIES!" exclaimed David. "When did you have time to make these!?" he accused, biting into the first with relish. "YUM!"

"I made them last night after you went to bed and used a charm to keep the smell from waking you," she answered with a small smile as Oliver grabbed a second one.

"Well these are great Kates! Just as good as your mums!"

"Thanks," said Katie blushing uncomfortably. "It's her old recipe."

"Katie never has time to make cookies! Thanks," said Davie in a small voice. As always, he seemed to intuitively understand his sister needed him as he snuggled up to her side to give her a hug. She pulled him closer and he seemed to be contented to watch the families flying near the closest set of hoops as Oliver finished up his sandwich and Katie munched on the fruit salad she had made.

"You're very close to your brother," Oliver said finally, after a long companionable silence. Katie looked up from her fruit salad and the grape she had been attempting to spear to see he was watching her intently. Looking at Davie, who was leaning against her side, she saw he was asleep, entirely tuckered out from flying earlier.

"Yes, I am," she replied with the simpler answer.

"That's cute, he's what? Thirteen years younger than you?"

"Yup, he was my welcome home present shortly after I got home for summer holidays second year," she answered as she ran her fingers through the golden hair resting on her shoulder and adjusted him so he was laying in her lap.

"He's a good kid, and has a heck of a left handed shot."

"I think I'll keep him," she answered with a wink.

"We should…. What if we made this into a weekly thing? Unless you're too busy?" asked Oliver, sounding uncertain.

"No, that… that would be nice. We could plan on every Sunday at 10am. Here."

"I can bring the food next time too," answered Oliver, remembering the discussion of Tuna Spinach Casserole.

" _Oliver Wood_ cooks!?"

"Well, I meant to say I would swing by and get some takeout on the way here," he corrected with a grin. Katie shook her head and laughed. "I've missed you Kates."

"I might have missed you too," she answered with a shrug before ruining the effect with a giggle.

"Oh pa-lease! We both know you missed my charming self more than anyone else from your Hogwarts days!" he said in his most arrogant sounding voice.

"You caught me Oliver! I've been cutting out every magazine or newspaper article I find you in, and posting them in a giant shrine that I cry over every night because I missed your ugly mug so much," joked Katie sarcastically.

"You wouldn't be my first fangirl," he replied, causing them both to drop the act and burst out laughing.

"How's professional quidditch then?"

She managed to keep the conversation focused on Oliver for the next hour or so, asking questions about matches and his teammates. She didn't want to tell him how much her life had changed in the past year. Of all her friends who she had kept in touch with, only Alicia had really understood anything, and bothered to keep up despite her friend's busy life. Alicia was coping with loss right now, and Katie had agreed that Romania would be a great move for the girl grieving her loved one. It was an escape, something that Katie herself could never have managed.

"Katie?" came Davie's voice as Oliver was just asking her how she was liking healer training after she had been too slow to come up with an interesting question.

"I'm here, luv," she said, running her hand over his head. "I thought you'd like to rest up a bit before we headed back to the pitch. I also saved you an extra cookie so you would really be energized so we can beat Oliver here in round two."

David didn't even complain when she made him eat a spinach salad that night with dinner. After 'beating' Oliver at their pickup quidditch game after David's nap, Oliver had said goodbye, and informed David he was looking forward to Wednesday's practice. Katie could honestly say it had been the most enjoyable day of her life since the death of her parents, and that was saying something.

 **Thanks for reading chapter two. I hope you enjoyed it. Please review and keep an eye out for the next chapter soon. Thanks for the previous reviews from: Ray, Katie, Ada, and DarkWolfette.**


	3. A Matter of Trust

As July turned into August, Katie found herself looking forward to Wednesday afternoons, because no matter how tired she was, usually running on little to no sleep, seeing David's face when she picked him up was worth it. She didn't exactly mind seeing Oliver either. She was usually a few minutes late, but even when she was on time, Oliver always came and talked to her despite the numerous parents that were vying for his attention. However, most of the middle aged witches and wizards seemed to recognize that maybe Oliver Wood might want to spend an extra minute or two talking with the pretty blond. Neither Oliver or Katie seemed to notice their knowing looks when he would look up from a conversation with a couple of the dads to see her approaching in her bright green healer robes.

"How was work?" he'd usually ask.

And she would reply with something along the lines of, "Oh, the usual, one of my patients projectile vomited onto my robes from all the way across the room. It would have been impressive if it hadn't been so disgusting. How was practice?"

"It was great!" Oliver would say, before turning to the parent of whoever he had been talking to and introducing them quickly before describing something particularly good that the parent's son or daughter had done at practice that day. Sometimes the person had simply been very dedicated and sometimes they had caught the snitch, but Oliver always had something nice to say about each of the players which he knew by name. If they were alone, sometimes this turned into an entire discussion on the practice, what was going great, and what he wanted to improve on before their first game in September. Katie would smile because Oliver's obvious enthusiasm for coaching the young team was endearing.

"Sounds like fun, but Davie and I had better get going," she would say after their short conversations.

"See you, Sunday?" he would ask.

"Of course," she would reply before shrinking David's broom and either heading for the Knight bus or apparating home.

In a hectic week, where both her jobs demanded her full attention in addition to David, those conversations were the highlight of her week, a glowing beacon of calm and normality. She could pretend she wasn't a single parent struggling to make ends meet. She was just an older sister picking her brother up from quidditch practice and flirting with the coach, which admittedly, there was some flirting and teasing. She found herself wearing her most attractive work clothes and doing her hair and make-up on these days. She pretended not to notice her extra care for her appearance on these days, but she worried that her old crush on Oliver Wood might be making a come back.

And on Sunday mornings when she either played quidditch alongside her brother and Oliver, or watched them shoot across the sky, her heart beat a little quicker. Sometimes she played it off as the exhilaration of flight or nerves about seeing David perched on a broom and zooming through the air. But sometimes, she almost let herself slip into admitting that she was just a normal girl with a crush. Those days in the park were the best part of her week and David's. He looked forward to it from the time they got home from quidditch practice on Wednesday until minute they arrived on Sunday mornings, and it was practically all he talked about until he had practice on Wednesday and started looking forward to the next time he saw Oliver.

Katie hoped that David wasn't getting too close to Oliver, but he was latching onto the first adult male in his life since their father, and she didn't see how it could be a bad thing. Of course, maybe Oliver wouldn't be around as much once the quidditch league ended in November, but she was still friends with the man. Plus, she was pretty sure that it would be harder to fall out of contact with each other again. After all, this time they didn't have the excuses of Hogwarts or Voldemort to keep them out of contact.

As September approached and the time to start buying David's first school supplies approached, she wished the summer could go on like this forever. Despite the fact that she was still struggling to make ends meet and get through healing school while raising her brother, she was happy for the first time in a long while. And she was pretty sure David was too. The changes on him were nothing short of amazing.

"Sorry I'm late again!" Katie exclaimed, her healer robes billowing behind her as she hurried onto the pitch to find Oliver and her brother still in the sky, not even having noticed her twenty minute late arrival. She really needed to stick up for herself and tell Healer Clearwater where to stick it when he made her finish his charts, which was pretty much every night.

She was just about to cast a sonorous charm and get their attention, when suddenly, Oliver, shot down the field, doing a barrel roll as he went, causing her to smile at the look of pure joy on his face as he flipped upside down and further messed his hair. The smile quickly fell off her face though as she watched her brother shoot off after and mimic the move nearly perfectly. HE HAD HER BROTHER DOING UPSIDE DOWN FLYING MANEUVERS!?

"OLIVER WILLIAM WOOD!" she shrieked, pulling out her wand in a panic. "DAVID FERGAL BELL!"

"Katherine Fianna Bell!" David shouted back with a laugh, knowing he was in trouble but trying to charm his way out of it.

"GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!" she exclaimed, watching as he landed. "Merlin, are you… WOOD! It's your responsibility to keep my brother safe, not kill him!"

"He's fine Kate, totally intact!"

"I'm really fine, Katie," parroted David.

"I…. I… Merlin, just don't get too crazy until he's at least a little older!" said Katie, her eyes unexplicably filling with tears.

"I'm old enough!" protested David as she broke down and pulled him into her arms despite his obvious displeasure at the public display of affection. Especially one in front of his coach and idol.

"No… I… Merlin, you scared the death out of me," she said stepping back and swiping at her eyes. "Let's go, I have work tonight."

"But… you just got off?" said Oliver, puzzled.

"Healing Interns don't make much, and I have bills to pay," Katie replied as means of avoiding further conversation. "Let's get home so I can have dinner with you, and you can tell me how many times Coach Wood almost _killed_ you. Bye Wood."

"Come on Kates, he's fine!" protested Oliver at her frosty demeanor.

"He may be fine, but I'll be having nightmares for a week!" she spat, clearly still upset. Seeing her brother doing even a low risk maneuver like flying upside down for a few seconds had made her heart stop in her chest. She couldn't lose David.

"You sound like Madame Pomphrey," Oliver said, shouldering his broom and following the siblings on their way out of the park.

"Must have something to do with the amount of injuries we see in healer training from quidditch!" she snapped back.

"I promise we take every safety precaution, and the pitch does have a cushioning charm. We've yet to lose a player!"

"First time for everything, and I don't want it to be David!"

"I'm FINE!" the boy protested. "You're just overtired! You haven't slept since the day BEFORE yesterday!" he accused.

"Katie?" said Oliver, turned a concerned look at his friend, whose eyes were red rimmed and had slight bruises under them, but the redness could just be from her recent watery eyes.

"My sleeping patterns are none of your business, now hold on, we're apparating," she said taking her brother's hand and glaring one last time at Oliver before spinning them into the darkness.

"Kate!" David said angrily as they landed in the kitchen.

"What?" she said, storming to the fridge and pulling out a casserole at random.

"You're acting like a mum!"

"Don't you get it!? I _am_ your mum! You're all I have left, and you scared the magic right out of me!" she said, finally letting the tears roll down her face. "I… I… I can't help that you scared me."

"It's okay, and it's nice to know I have… a mom sometimes," replied David quietly, giving his sister an extra big hug as she let herself cry just a minute more.

"And I'm going to do my best to _always_ be here for you!" Katie said determinedly as she wiped her eyes. "Now, let's have dinner, and then Mrs. Paterson is coming over until you go to bed. Then I'm going to use my break to quick come and put you to bed, and then the wards will be up until I get home around two or three am."

"Okay," replied David.

"Now, it looks like it's chicken noodle casserole for dinner, sounds good huh?"

It was almost midnight, and with three hours left before she could finally crawl into bed, Katie was dragging her feet a bit and hoping her muggle boss wouldn't notice. It was slow, as usual on a Wednesday night. There were a good number of regulars in the pub watching a game on the telly, and she didn't have any pressing orders. Normally, she would pull out a textbook and do a bit of studying, but tonight, she was just too tired. She contented herself by pretending to be busy and wiping down the counters.

"Kates."

She whipped around to see the absolute last person she wanted to see show up at her work.

"What are you doing here?!" she demanded.

"I asked around with some of the old gang and found out you work here."

"Who told you!?"

"What's that phrase? A wizard never reveals his secrets?"

"It's magician, I think," replied Katie with a sigh. "Now really, what are you doing here? Don't you have work tomorrow? You can't be drinking before practice!"

"I'm not here for a drink Kates," he replied in his deep Scottish burr, sinking into a barstool.

"Then what are you here for!? The kitchen's closed!"

"An explanation," he answered.

"You're not getting one!" she snapped back angrily, her slight Irish lilt coming out with her anger. "Payin' customers only!"

"You're so sour, how about you get me a lemonade, darlin'," he replied pulling out a few muggle bills.

"You've been spending too much time with George!" Katie said unamusedly before getting the drink.

"He, Percy, and Ron _are_ my roommates," answered Oliver taking a drink.

"Complain to some other bartender! I don't have time to listen to your problems, and I have no sympathy for you," she said crossing her arms. "You're the one who decided to move in with Weasleys."

"Don't worry, I'm already looking for another place," he sighed. "Coach said if I show up to practice with some sort of joke side effect one more time, he's going to force me to move in with him and his missus. Not the most appealing idea let me tell you."

"Hah," she said, grinning at the idea of a pranked Oliver.

"Now, I've got my drink, I'm a paying customer. How about that explanation?"

"Sorry, I only serve up the drinks."

"Kate! Why the bloody hell are you wearing _those_ and a too small top serving up piss poor ale to middle aged muggles? You have a decent job, but your brother made it sound like you're working yourself to death working two? And it looks it too! You're skinnier than I've ever seen you, and your make up doesn't hide those shadows under your eyes! What are you doing?"

"None of your Merlin Damned Business, that's what!"

"You don't have… a problem?" he asked, lowering his voice, causing her to raise an eyebrow.

"Of course I don't have a problem!" she said a little too high pitched and too quickly for him to believe.

"One of the guys I know went through a really good detox clinic rehab, he's totally clean now…"

"I DO NOT HAVE ANY ADDICTIONS!" she said very clearly, realizing what he was suggesting.

"Then what the hell are you doing? Your mum and dad can't want you doing this! If you need money that bad, why can't you go to them? Because honestly, the only reason you could possibly be doing this is for the money!" demanded Oliver, getting to his feet and leaning over the bar.

Katie broke. "OF COURSE THEY WOULDN'T WANT ME DOING THIS, BUT THEY'RE THE ONES WHO DIED AND LEFT ME WITHOUT ANY OTHER OPTIONS!" she shouted back, her Irish blood coming out more than ever, and finally drawing the attention of the other patrons. Several heads were now turned from the TVs at the arguing pair.

"What?" gasped Oliver, sinking back onto his seat, total shock covering his face. "When?"

"Go away Wood!"

"WHEN!" he shouted. "They were my godparents! How could I not have been told!?"

"It was April of last year, right before my Easter break. The ministry hushed it up, two dead purebloods wasn't publicized," she said quietly, aware that the other patrons were watching to see what would happen.

"Bloody…. Do… What about their money?"

"David will get it when he turns seventeen, along with access to the house and everything else," she said quietly.

"So you have to slave away to keep food on the table and make ends meet while those millions waste away in the bank collecting dust!" he hissed angrily, his fists balling.

"We manage," she replied simply, looking away, not wanting him to see just how hard it was by the look in her eyes.

"Hell Kates! You call this managing!?"

"Oliver…" she said finally looking at him, desperate to end the conversation.

"What time do you get off?" he asked after a long pause.

"Three AM," she said, not exactly sure why he needed to know. "And I'll be exhausted, so don't even think about harassing me about all this then."

"I figured," said Oliver finishing his lemonade and setting the empty glass back on the counter. "I'll see you soon," he added, setting a bill on the counter and heading for the door. Picking up the bill, and empty glass, she was overcome with conflicting emotions. Oliver left her a 100 pound note tip.

Hours later, when she finally walked out of the bar, she pulled her cloak close to her body and gripped the wand in her pocket. Since the end of the war, she wasn't nearly as nervous walking home, but a young woman alone in the dark can never be too careful. Head high and alert, she turned herself toward home- and nearly ran into a tall burly Scotsman.

"Morning, Kates, nice time for a stroll," said Oliver, not even flinching when she pulled her wand on him before recognizing him.

"Merlin, Wood. Scare me to death why don't you!" snapped a very cranky Katie who wasn't exactly ecstatic to see him.

"Thought I'd walk you home, lass," he drawled, offering his arm.

"I don't need you to, I have two feet."

"Humor me," he said, his eyes taking on a steely glint. Heaving a sigh and grabbing his arm, she started walking. She knew better to argue with Wood when he was being stubborn. Plus, it wasn't like he was forcing her to talk, the silence was companionable, and she found herself relaxing on the brief fifteen minute walk. Usually she didn't have the luxury of letting her guard down, but she knew she was safe with Oliver.

"Here we are," she said walking around to the back door of the tea shop and letting herself in as she lowered the wards, adjusting them for Oliver's presence.

"This is where you live?" he said looking around. "Do you apparate into this alley?"

"When I'm awake enough not to have to worry about splinching myself," she replied, rubbing her eyes and letting him follow her up the stairs after locking the door behind her. At the top of the stairs she unlocked the door and stepped into the apartment, flicking on the lights to reveal the cozy kitchen and living room.

"If you're thirsty, help yourself to something to drink, I need to check on Davie," she said, shedding her cloak and slipping off her shoes as she headed to her brother's room to ensure he was sleeping alright. Slipping in with her wand dimly lighting the room, she tucked the sheet up around him and gently smoothed his blond hair before using magic to change out the water in the glass of water he kept by his bed in case he woke up thirsty. A quick cooling charm to the water and she was quietly slipping back out, only to be startled by Oliver in the hall, watching her.

"I'm not used to having anyone else here," she whispered clutching her hand to her heart.

"It's a nice place, but kind of small," said Oliver. "Have you thought about having it magically enlarged?"

"Yes, but it's fairly expensive and you have to get a permit through the Department of Muggle Affairs at the ministry and that's no small sum either. We're comfortable, and the living room and kitchen are wonderful."

"How much is your rent?" he asked looking around the kitchen again as she headed toward the bathroom to brush her teeth.

"Three hundred quid a month, which is phenomenal for the neighborhood. Plus, the lady I rent from babysits Dave quite a bit."

"If you only had to pay, say… 150 a month on a place, would you still have to work two jobs?"

"Probably not, but I don't think I could find anything better to get my rent down that low," she said, washing her face as Oliver stood in the doorway and observed her nightly ritual.

"What if you took on a flatmate?"

"I don't think there's really room, and with Davie… I wouldn't want to bring in some random…" replied Katie slowly, thrown off by the question.

"No… as in me. As in, I pay for the expansion permit and the expansion. As in, I no longer have to live with Percy, George, and Ron, and pretty much Angelina too. Plus, Hermione is staying there more and more, so I can likely include her in my flatmates. As in, I pay you 300 pounds, and you cook my food. The food you bring to the park on Sunday is the best meal I eat all week."

Shocked, Katie looked at her longtime friend. He was totally serious. And he was nervous she was going to say no.

"I already had Rudolph bring you back your 100 pound tip. I don't need charity, Wood. I don't want charity. Like I said, we are managing."

"This isn't about charity! This is about me wanting to move out, and this being the perfect opportunity for you and for me. It's not like I don't have the money to move out on my own and buy a bloody house, but I can't find anything I like, and who wants to live alone and be lonely? Plus, how great would it be to have some decently cooked meals for a change? Take out every night of the week gets old. Plus, I like it here… it feels like a home. And if I got an expansion to add another bedroom, and possibly a bathroom, I think it would really work."

"I don't know, it still sounds like charity to me," said Katie, secretly thinking how amazing it would be to quit her dreadful job bartending.

"Kates, at least think about it," said Oliver hopefully. "Our families have been friends a long time, and I can't believe that my parents and I never even heard about your parents' death. I'm surprised my… well with the war everyone got a little disconnected, but that's no excuse… We've been friends a long time. And this is not charity. It would be flatmates you can live with long term."

"I… I need to talk to Davie about it and think it over. I'm exhausted and have to be at work at 8:30. I have some floo powder next to the fireplace."

"I'll stop by tomorrow night, you will be walking home around three?"

"Yes, yes, goodnight," said Katie watching as Oliver floo-ed away.

 **I feel like this is where things really start picking up with the plot. Hope you are enjoying it. Thanks for reading. Please review... Your feedback and encouragement is what keeps me writing. I really need the extra motivation! Stay tuned for the next installment next week.**


	4. Movin' Out

The next morning, Katie was still exhausted, but she managed to get up and make breakfast for Davie and herself. Just listening to him chatter on about the day trip the daycare was taking on Friday made the exorbitant amount she paid for his daycare worth it. Which reminded her of the offer that Oliver made last night. Could she have him move in with them? What would Maggie say? What would Davie think? Could she manage to live in the same flat as Wood without resurrecting her tremendous crush from Hogwarts? Correction, who was she kidding, could she live in the same flat as Wood without jumping his bones!?

That evening between her shorter than usual shift at the hospital and her night at the bar, she dropped Davie off at Maggie's.

"Katie, David!" exclaimed Maggie as she opened the door with her usual smile. "How was daycare today?" she asked him taking his bag.

"It was really fun! We're going to the zoo on Friday, and I'm excited. I want to see the lions! It's to celebrate our last full week in daycare before school starts next week."

"How exciting!" she said. "Why don't you draw me a picture of what you're going to see at the zoo?"

"Okay!" he agreed and headed to her kitchen where she kept a little craft table to keep him occupied. She also had some blocks and toys that he liked playing with when he was there. Mrs. Patterson really was such a good friend and landlady.

"How are you doing today, dear?" she asked, concern appearing on her face. For a second, Katie almost started to put up her usual facade to hide their troubles.

"I'm… tired. And… I was… I wanted to ask you something…"

"Is everything alright?"

"Well… I have a friend from school… my parents were actually his godparents and our families were very close growing up."

"Oh! Please tell me you have a date!" exclaimed Maggie with a grin.

"Well… no… It's just that he recently found out that Davie and I were on our own and he's being… He claims he was already looking for new roommates, which is valid considering who he lives with now, but…"

"Spit it out dear," laughed Maggie as Katie twisted her hands nervously.

"Do you think it would be inappropriate for him to move in with Davie and I?"

"Well," said Maggie with a short pause. "Where would he stay?"

"He's offered to sleep on a pull down bed built into wardrobe. He's sure it will fit in the living room," Katie lied seamlessly.

"How old is this young man? Is he trustworthy?"

"He's… twenty three now, and he's one of the most trustworthy men I know. I would trust him with my life… or Davie's."

"Is he good-looking?" asked Maggie.

"If one has a thing for tall, ruggedly handsome Scotsmen," replied Katie after a pause. "But I can promise you he isn't my boyfriend and never would be anyways. Ours is an entirely platonic relationship."

"Oh! He sounds perfect for you! When does he move in?"

"Maggie! I told you! He isn't my boyfriend! I've known him since I was little, and he would never…"

"Why not?! An old woman can dream. A girl like you deserves to find a good man to settle down with. You can't keep raising Davie by yourself, and one day you'll wake up and realize you spent so much time raising him, you forgot to live yourself. You're a good mother to him, but he needs a man in his life too. Maybe this friend of yours…"

"No… Oliver would never… he's… You'll understand when you meet him. He's actually a bit famous- I mean in Scotland- and he could have any woman he wanted."

"Ohh! Is he rich too?"

"One might say that…" said Katie, avoiding the fact that the recent extension on his contract with Puddlemere was an astounding five years at six million galleons a year. The best keeper in the league didn't come cheap. Plus, Oliver was predicted to get better in the next five years with more experience.

"Ohh, rich, _and_ famous! I can't wait to meet him. I suspect he might be the Coach Oliver who David talks so much about! The changes… I think that this will be a good thing. I just bet he's the perfect match for you! Plus, if he's rich and famous, should I start charging more rent?" Maggie winked at the last bit, but Katie wondered if maybe they should pay a little more. After all, they would be expanding the apartment without Maggie's knowledge.

"I still need to talk to Davie about it, make sure he's okay with it. Oliver is a good friend though, and I'm sure… Davie really likes Oliver."

"Ohh… Oliver… Oliver and Katie… Sounds good to me!" laughed Maggie dreamily. Clearly she was excited to hear Katie interacted with men once in a while… even if Oliver wasn't a boyfriend. Katie almost thought that Maggie would be more excited about a man moving into the apartment if he _was_ her boyfriend. And here she had been worried about impropriety.

"I really need to get going," said Katie, turning red. "I'll be back around nine to bring the little munchkin home and to bed. Bye Davie!"

"Bye Katie!" he called, not once looking up from his picture.

Later that night, when she was getting Davie ready for bed over her short forty minute break, she decided she should discuss it with him.

"You like Oliver, don't you?" she asked as he put his pajamas on without her help.

"Coach Wood? Yeah, he's great! Are we going to see him on Sunday?" asked Davie hopefully. His eyes flicked longingly toward the closet where she kept his broom. "You were angry at him yesterday after practice."

"I… I wasn't angry. You were right, I was tired. And he's my friend, but I don't like him knowing everything about me. He needs a new place to live, and he was thinking about moving in with us."

"Can he?! He can sleep in my room! We could get bunk beds! And I would even sleep on the bottom if he wanted top bunk!" exclaimed Davie excitedly.

"Well, we were thinking he could get his own room. The Ministry of Magic, where daddy used to work has wizards that can come add a room onto the apartment. Oliver would have his own room, but he would be here a lot," said Katie.

"That would be so fun! We could listen to the games together! And go to the park! And I could stay with him sometimes instead of Mrs. Patterson. And he could help me find ways to get out of eating potassium casserole!"

"It wouldn't be exactly like that… If Oliver came to live with us, I wouldn't have to work my other job. I would be home at night to take care of you," said Katie.

"Then you HAVE to let him come live with us. You work too much. I miss you, and Mrs. Patterson says your job makes her nervous. Please! Please!"

"Alright, alright…" laughed Katie, tossing him into bed and sitting on the edge. "I'll talk to Oliver, and he _might_ move in with us. I don't want you to get too excited, because it's not official yet."

"He'll move in with us. He likes you. And I think he likes me too. Plus he's nice. And then you won't have to work so much or go to your scary job."

"Alright. I guess I'll talk to Oliver when I see him next. Now go to sleep, I'll be here when you wake up. Goodnight Davie, love you snugglebug. You know to floo to St. Mungo's and wait there for me if anything happens."

"Yup! Love you too, night Katie." She kissed his forehead and threw up wards as she left his room, heading for the one point in the apartment that she always apparated out of before twisting on her heel and landing in the alley behind the bar. Her stomach growled, and she wished she had time to grab a quick snack during her break. Pocketing her wand, she headed in the back door.

It was pretty slow for a Thursday night, and her boss ended up letting her leave early. Katie pulled her cloak tightly around her and headed out the front door, figuring with how tired and hungry she was, she should skip apparating.

"Katie?" came a voice from the darkness, causing her to spin and hold out her wand.

"Oliver?" she answered as the shadow approached, the light from a nearby street lamp illuminating his features.

"You got off earlier than last night, and I almost missed you. I'll walk you home," he said. "I also brought you a midnight snack. Muggles are so ingenious with these 24 hour restaurants."

"Thanks!" she said grabbing the bag and opening it to find a sandwich that looked like it might be a Ruben. Taking a bite, she smiled and hummed in appreciation.

"So, have you made a decision yet?"

"My landlady and Davie are both excited about you moving in," she answered between bites.

"What about you? You aren't excited?"

"Well… I will be happy to stop by the bar tomorrow and tell them I'm quitting. And I guess it will be… nice… and it's not… I don't know what to think yet," she answered slowly. "I haven't really had too much time to think about it. I told Mrs. Patterson that you would be sleeping on a bed that is hidden in a wardrobe during the day."

"The expansion workers from the ministry will be there tomorrow. I am hoping to move in Sunday if I'm not too tired from my game Saturday. George and Ron don't know yet, because I'm hoping to avoid a farewell prank before the game against Appleby."

"Oh, okay," answered Katie as they approached her door. Soon to be their door.

"I was thinking we could adjust the wards tonight," he said holding up his wand.

"Alright," she said, pulling out her wand and going through the necessary wand movements. She could do the wards practically in her sleep, so it wasn't too much of an effort.

"Solid wards," said Oliver after observing.

"I put up extra ones at night when Davie is here alone. No one can get in except me, and he can't leave except through the floo to go to St. Mungo's. During the war, I thought if something were to happen here, he would be safe there. It was generally considered one of the safer places since they were turning away everyone but purebloods anyways."

"Yeah, but it will be a better peace of mind when you are here at home with him every night," replied Oliver, using his wand to inspect the wards that she had just changed slightly to recognize his magical signature.

"I'll see you when you move in then?" she asked.

"I will be traveling to Appleby tomorrow for the game Saturday, so yeah. I'll see you Sunday, I can hopefully move in Sunday morning. We can visit the park in the afternoon."

"Okay," she answered.

"I'll see you," he said with a grin. "Kiss me for luck, Kates?" He offered his cheek with a silly smile.

"Oliver Wood doesn't need luck," she laughed, somewhat embarrassed.

"But you have the luck o' the Irish, Bell," joked Oliver pretending to look wounded as they headed up the stairs and entered the flat. "I still swear that your good luck kiss before try outs is what helped me make the team."

"Fine!" she snapped. Going up on tip-toe she placed a quick peck on his cheek. "Good luck and goodnight Oliver Wood."

"Good night Miss Bell," replied a grinning Oliver before spinning on his heel and apparating away. A quickly reddening Katie meanwhile went in to check on Davie before bed.

The next evening, she was once again stuck doing healer Clearwater's charting until late. A quick muggle phone call had confirmed that Mrs. Patterson could pick him up from daycare though, and so it was to Mrs. Patterson's that she trudged after work.

"Katie!" exclaimed Mrs. Patterson answering the door with a smile. "We were just sitting down to dinner. I wasn't sure when you would get home, and there's no sense in letting a growing boy go hungry. There's plenty for you too!"

"You didn't have to feed David," replied Katie feeling guiltier than ever. "Thank you."

"No problem, besides, I like having his company, and yours too!"

"Mrs. Patterson made fried chicken!" exclaimed Davie with a smile.

"Sounds delicious," said Katie with a smile, walking in and taking a seat at the table while Mrs. Patterson grabbed a plate that was already conveniently on the counter.

"Now, how was work, today, dearie?"

"Oh, the usual," said Katie. "I'm on a rotation in the OBGYN ward right now, so I delivered babies all morning, but one of the emergency doctors grabbed me and forced me to watch his patients and finish his charts all afternoon."

"He doesn't sound very nice," said Mrs. Patterson with a frown.

"He isn't," said Katie simply. "What did you guys do this afternoon?"

"I helped Mrs. Patterson make dessert!" exclaimed an excited Davie. "It was like a potions class!"

Katie flushed, and hoped that the elderly muggle wouldn't notice the wizarding reference. Davie was really good about keeping quiet about some things, but once in a while, he would slip up.

"Yes, we made plum pudding," said Mrs. Patterson smiling at Davie's enthusiasm.

"Sounds delicious," said Katie. "Anything interesting happen at daycare?"

"No…" said David averting his eyes. "Well… that one boy, Steven, was especially grouchy today. He made Mandy cry, and he pushed me down when we were playing at the zoo."

"That's not very nice," said Katie. "What did Miss Rachel do?"

"She made Mandy take a nap early for crying, and she didn't see him push me. I didn't cry or anything, cause I didn't want to have to go to the bus and take a nap. I didn't want to miss the lions. I was a big boy!" said David proudly.

"Why didn't Steven get in trouble for making Mandy cry though?" asked Katie with a frown.

"I don't know," answered Davie simply, taking a bit of the dessert that Mrs. Patterson had generously spooned onto his plate. "This is really yummy! We did a good job!" he said with a smile.

Since it was a Friday, and she could go home and sleep tonight instead of working, Katie and David stayed after dinner to enjoy Mrs. Patterson's company. David ended up in front of her muggle TV, which he found constantly fascinating, and Katie went over the details of Oliver moving in with her landlady.

"Thanks again for picking him up and watching him this evening. Dinner was wonderful too," said Katie, hugging the sweet lady.

"You're welcome," laughed Mrs. Patterson. "I'd get lonely without you two. I'll be happy when you don't have to work at the pub anymore, but I'm going to miss getting to watch Davie so often. I'll have to find some excuses to have you guys over."

Katie laughed and took Davie's hand for the short walk from Mrs. Patterson's home to their flat above her tea shop.

Walking up the back stair to the flat, Katie had a moment of panic as she realized someone had been there while she was gone. After a second she remembered that Oliver was bringing over the workers today. Opening the door, she realized they were long gone, but her eyes immediately spotted their handiwork.

The kitchen and living room had almost imperceptibly been expanded. The fourth chair in the kitchen wasn't quite so crammed next to the wall, and the large standing wardrobe that should have made the family room seem impossibly small seemed to have cleared up a good bit of space. Anyone who wasn't living here, or stopping by every day might not notice the extra space, but Katie certainly did.

"Ohhh! When did you get this!?" exclaimed David, running to the wardrobe. "Did you get us a television like Mrs. Patterson?" he asked. Looking at the wardrobe again, it did vaguely resemble the entertainment center at their landlady's house.

"No…" said Katie breaking off as David pulled open the doors on the wardrobe before gasping.

"WOW!" he exclaimed, running through the door.

"David! That's Oliver's room!" she exclaimed, rushing after him. Oliver would probably prefer she not let her brother run amok all over his things.

Entering the room, though, Katie had a feeling this wasn't Oliver's bedroom. In fact, the large room looked more like the Gryffindor common room than anything else. It was bigger than the room she had just exited, and had an impossibly high ceiling, with giant windows covering the entire upper half of the room, while the lower half of the room remained mostly windowless. There was a large fireplace, which Katie suspected was connected to the floo network, surrounded by a cluster of several fluffy armchairs and two large sofas. The room was oval shaped with two alcoves coming off the room at opposite ends. The small alcove off to one side had what looked like a large desk and several bookshelves. There was also a small window close enough to the ground to look out. A second alcove, across the room from the first stood empty, with a couple of windows allowing light into the lower ceiling-ed room.

"Wow," she said, looking at what was obviously a luxurious living space. Her eyes were drawn upward to the unbelievable panoramic windows that allowed for a beautiful view of the darkening sky. Three large metal rings suspended in the air caught her eye and she grinned. Of course Oliver would have practice rings in his house, no wonder the room was so big with such a high ceiling. She wondered if he charmed quaffles to come at the rings like he used to do in school. She was pretty sure he had invented the charm himself, and it was quite a nice piece of spellwork.

Hearing a door open, she noticed that Davie was peeking his head into the door across the room.

"Oliver's bed is _huge!_ " he exclaimed, turning to look at her with wide eyes. "We could all sleep in it, and there would be tons of room left!" he said with wonder. Katie felt herself turn red at the thought of sleeping in Oliver's bed.

"Come on, let's leave his things alone, I'm sure he wants us to respect his privacy. Maybe he'll want to show you around and let you see his things when he's here. It's not nice to snoop around in other people's private living space," said Katie, trying to curb Davie's excitement at the room which could probably encompass the entire rest of their flat. This had to have been one expensive expansion.

 **Hope you liked this chapter! Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far! I love love love hearing from you! Things in my life just got about 6x more stressful as of yesterday (If I was drowning before, someone just tossed me a figurative baby)... but, I know hearing from all of you will brighten my day (even if it's constructive criticism), so I'm posting this a day early! Let me know what you think! ~Ellie**


	5. Lullabye

"When does he come back!?" exclaimed David, following her back through the wardrobe, which she promptly closed.

"He has a game tomorrow, and he'll be here Sunday. We can listen to him play the Appleby Arrows tomorrow," she said. "For now, let's get you a bath before you go to bed."

"He's going to beat those Arrows! Puddlemere always wins and Oliver is the BEST!" said David heading into the bathroom and pulling his shirt over his head as she reached in the cabinet and picked out a clean towel for him. "He'll stomp those chasers, and keep the quaffle out!"

He struggled a second with the fly of his jeans for a second before he managed them, but he didn't need her help. She thought back to a year ago when he still needed her help dressing sometimes, but he had learned to tie his shoes just a few weeks back and barely needed her. She felt her eyes inexplicably water for a few seconds. Turning quickly, she adjusted the taps to fill the tub for him.

"Katie," he said, continuing his chatter. "Could you heal my leg before I get in the tub?" Turning, she gasped. Dried blood caked his right leg, and he had a terrifyingly deep gash on his knee.

"What happened!?" she cried, grabbing her wand and a washcloth.

"I told you," he said. "Steven pushed me on the steps. My knee landed on a big rock, and tore my jeans, but…" he cut off, his face turning red. "I'm sorry, but I didn't do it on purpose. I accidently fixed my jeans, so Miss Rachel wouldn't see that I ripped them. Glancing at his discarded jeans, she did notice what looked to be a slightly botched patch job resulting from accidental magic.

"Sit down," she said, having him take a seat on the side of the tub. "Why didn't you have Miss Rachel clean this and put a bandage on it. You actually might need…" she broke off not wanting to tell him that Miss Rachel probably would have needed to take him to get muggle stitches. It was horrifically deep, and she suspected his magic must have done a little something to stop the bleeding and pain.

"Didn't it hurt, a lot?" she asked.

"Yeah, but I didn't want to get in trouble for being a cry baby or ripping my clothes and have to take a nap early. Plus, she probably would have called and bothered you at work to come pick me up if she thought it was really bad like the time Paul hit his head and his daddy had to come get him."

"Look," she said, taking his shoulders, "If you're hurt, I want to take care of you, and I don't care about my job. I can leave and get you if there's an emergency. This is more than an ouchie, and you needed to see a doctor for it. I think that your magic must have done a little to help keep it from bleeding too much or hurting too bad. Next time, you tell someone. And if this happened to me, I would cry. It's okay to cry."

"Oliver wouldn't cry," said David after a moment.

"I'm willing to bet Oliver would cry. Now, I'm going to clean this, and I'm going to use my wand to heal you. It might hurt a little, but I don't have a good potion for the pain, so I'm going to have to use a spell that doesn't work as nicely. I promise it will feel better when I'm done."

"I'm sorry, I didn't tell anyone. I just thought you wouldn't want to be bothered, and I knew Miss Rachel wouldn't want to deal with it," said David sadly, his eyes filling with tears.

"I always want you to bother me when you need me," said Katie, looking into her brother's watery green eyes. "You're my brother, and I love you. Now hold my hand and squeeze it reallllly tight!" She gave him her free hand and cast the correct spell, trying not to let her own emotions show on her face as her brother winced and tightened the grip on her hand. Two fat tears leaked out of his eyes as she sat her wand aside and pulled his Marvin the Mad Muggle underpants clad bottom into her lap and sat hugging him on the edge of the tub. She gently ran her fingers through his soft golden hair until his grip on her hand lessened.

"Does it still hurt?" she asked quietly, pretending not to notice the tears on his face.

"It feels better now," he lied. She knew the knee would still slightly twinge for a few hours, but she planned to floo to St. Mungo's for a children's pain remedy as soon as he finished his bath. "Thanks Katie."

She kissed the top of his head and set him on his feet, turning him so she could inspect it. The knee looked like new, and if wasn't for that spot or two of dried blood she had missed on his leg, she might have believed it was never there.

"Tell me what Marvin the Mad muggle did yesterday while you take your bath, I want to be able to hear from the kitchen, okay?"

"Okay," he said, getting in the tub. "Yesterday, Marvin went with his sister Katie to the car store and bought a car…"

She listened to the chatter as she headed into the kitchen, opening the freezer in the kitchen, happy that she had gone to the grocery store a few days before. Tidying up, she set a couple of bowls on the table and headed into his room to grab a clean set of pajamas.

"Sounds like Marvin had a busy day, yesterday," she returning to the bathroom to find her brother playing with one of his bath toys as he described how Marvin accidentally got to test drive a flying car, but the obliviators had to track him down and modify his memory.

"Yeah, but he doesn't remember," said David with a grin.

"Did you wash your hair?"

"Yup, I scrubbed up," he said.

"Let's get you out before you're pruned," she said holding out his towel. She let the water out of the tub while he dried off and changed into a clean pair of his Marvin the Mad Muggle underpants and his quaffle covered pajamas. Casting a quick drying charm on his hair, she grabbed a brush and got a few quick swipes in, before he shrugged her away with a grimace.

"Your hair looks like bird's nest unless you let me brush it," she complained.

"Katie!" he whined. She sighed, conceding that it was probably good enough and he trooped out of the bathroom. She carefully watched his slow walk, and wondered if he had been walking with pain all night and how she hadn't noticed at Mrs. Patterson's.

"Now, how about some ice cream before bed?" she asked, watching a wide grin spread across his face.

While he ate the ice cream, she quickly flooed to St. Mungo's, ran to the apothecary and got the appropriate potion.

"Now, it doesn't taste great, but it will make the pain go away so you can sleep okay," said Katie when she got back to find him finished with his ice cream and flipping through one of his favorite story books. Unsurprisingly it was about Marvin the Mad Muggle.

Tucking him into bed, she let herself linger, brushing his soft, clean hair off his brow and giving him an extra kiss.

"Wake me up if you need me at all during the night," she said.

"Okay," he said after a pause. "Love you."

"Love you too, snugglebug. Goodnight," she said, heading out to the kitchen where she noticed the dirty ice cream dishes. Rolling up her sleeves, she turned on the water, and as the warm water started running over her hands, she felt the tears start leaking out of her eyes. Her hands moved mechanically, cleaning the dishes, and the horror of seeing the blood covering her brother's leg came to the surface. She let her repressed emotions from earlier fly free. She saw blood every day at work, but it wasn't the blood of her only remaining family member. She saw gashes even worse than his, but they weren't _David's_ gashed up knees. And he hadn't wanted to _bother_ her with his injury. She was a healer! He must have been in so much pain. Was she a terrible mother not to have noticed? Sobbing, she leaned over the sink and let her head rest on her forearms, thankful for the silencing charm on David's door that kept him from being disturbed by her after he went to bed.

"Kates?" came a soft voice, startling Katie as she spun away from the sink and stumbled into the refrigerator handle.

"What are you doing here?" she said between trying to stop her tears as they converted to gasping sobs she couldn't stop like a bad case of hiccups.

"I needed to come back for my lucky socks, so coach said I could stay in my own bed as long as I got to the game on time. I am wearing a necklace portkey that will take me to the stadium tomorrow morning, so even if I were to oversleep, I would still get there. Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"I'm a bad mum," she managed brokenly, sinking to the floor and resuming her sobs, pressing her hands to her eyes trying to burn out the image of David's bloody leg. She felt Oliver join her on the floor and let him pull her into his lap.

"Shhh, you are a great mum. David loves you so much, and you do everything in your power for him. You worry about him, and you take great care of him. I'm pretty sure that qualifies you for awesome mum status. What happened that you think you're a bad mum, anyways?" he said as he gently ran his hand up and down her back in a soothing manner.

"He was hurt, and he was afraid to tell anyone because he didn't want me to have to leave my job. He doesn't realize that my job isn't as important as he is. He was seriously hurt. He could have… oh Merlin…. He could…" she started up sobbing again.

"But you healed him, and he's fine now, right?" Oliver reminded her.

"Well of course, but…. He didn't come to me… He was afraid to be a bother."

"He worries about you too Kates. You're thin as a rail, and the bruises under your eyes are darker than ever. You barely take care of yourself, and he knows it's because you are much more concerned with taking care of him. It's normal that he would want to lighten your load. If you healed him, then he's fine, and if you let him know, I'm sure he'll speak up in the future when he needs you, because he wouldn't want his not speaking up to make you this upset."

"I just… for a second it was like… It was the scariest moment of my life when I realized how hurt he must have been. I nearly threw up," she whispered.

"It's alright, he's alright. You're safe, and the war is over. He's a boy, and he's going to get his fair share of scrapes, but you are highly trained and can handle it. And if you can't, St. Mungo's is a floo away. I think you're going to feel a lot better tomorrow. Tomorrow, you don't have to work, and you can sleep in until ten."

"Why not noon?" she asked.

"Because you have to be up to go to my game at noon," said Oliver, producing two tickets.

"Ollie!" she said in surprise, a watery smile appearing.

"They were free, so don't get too excited. All of the players get tickets for the family box, and mum and dad go quite a bit, but I get the standard 4 tickets to every game unless I request more, so two usually go unused. Mum and dad are going to Australia for a few months anyways. They leave on Tuesday, so they can't make tomorrow. I thought you and David might enjoy the game."

"He'd love to go!" Katie answered with a smile. "He'll be so excited. He hasn't been to a professional quidditch match before. He was too young…"

"I'm glad. And I'll be happy to have my good luck charm there to cheer me on," he said with a smile.

"No promises, I've always been a huge Appleby fan," joked Katie.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot… what was it you always used to say about them? 'I bet they could play better if the snitch was the size and color of a bright red apple because they always had the worst seekers'?"

"Oh hush... I'm not allowed to change team loyalties?"

"No, not when you practically forced me to choose Puddlemere because it's your favorite team!"

"Puddlemere has always been your favorite team too," she retorted with a smile. "I remember when we met in mini league. It was half the reason that I decided we could be friends, although the fact you didn't support the Irish in the world league was off putting."

"Since I met you, maybe," he laughed. She almost thought he was serious, but laughed anyways at the look on his face. "After you punched Montague in the face for claiming girls couldn't play quidditch and saying that the Wimbleborn Wasps were the best team in the English League, I wasn't about to say I liked the Kestrels, was I?"

"Merlin, Ollie, I love you," she said giving him a big hug, finally having seen the last of her tears. Realizing what she said, she flinched. "I mean… I just… you always know how to cheer me up, and you… you know what I mean right?"

"Don't worry Kates… I know… and I love you too…" He gave her an extra squeeze before releasing her and helping her to her feet.

"You better get those lucky socks," she said looking away awkwardly.

"And you need to get some sleep. I'll see you and Davie after the game."

"We'll see you after you win," she laughed swiping away the last of her tears. "Goodnight and goodluck Ollie." Raising up on her tip toes, she gave him a peck on the cheek before turning to finish up the dishes.

"Night Kates," he replied disappearing into the wardrobe.

* * *

The next morning, Katie woke up early, gathering the laundry and doing it while Davie ate his breakfast.

"What are we going to do today, Katie?" asked Davie around a mouthful of his favorite cereal.

"Well, after I look at your knee, you're going to get dressed, and then I have a special surprise," she answered with a mysterious grin. Davie was immediately in a hurry to get ready and see the surprise.

"Wear this shirt," she said handing him one of her old Puddlemere jerseys. It was only a little big on him, and fortunately the jersey her mom had given her in seventh year still fit her, if it was a little loose.

"Cool!" exclaimed Davie. "Can we listen to Oliver's game on the radio?"

"Actually, even better. Oliver gave us tickets to the game, so we're going to go to Appleby and watch it!"

"YEAH!" An elated David spent the next hour excitedly running around the small flat while Katie finished up the laundry. He tried to be helpful, but he was much too excited to do anything besides chatter about the upcoming game.

At eleven, Katie finished carefully studying the apparition directions on the tickets before taking Davie's hand and focusing fully on their destination. Following the hoard of witches and wizards into the stadium, she kept a tight grip on David's little hand to keep the over-excited little boy from getting lost in the crowd. Climbing the stairs, she soon found herself on the uppermost level and the entrance to the box designated for the family of the opposing team. Presenting her tickets, the wizard acting as a bouncer waved them through without question.

"Wow," breathed Davie, rushing across the spacious room to press his nose to the glass that covered the front of the room that faced the pitch. The room was on eye level with the hoops and located slightly toward the Puddlemere side where Oliver would play, but offered an amazing view of the entire pitch.

There were a few other families who had taken seats or were mingling by the food buffet lining the back of the room. A pair of pretty women gave her tentative smiles with obvious curiosity as to who she was and who Davie was.

Katie decided to avoid any awkward conversations explaining she was here with her brother using Oliver's tickets. Taking a seat, she smiled as Davie excitedly exclaimed over the advertisement boards flashing ads, the fans filling the stadium, and the players as they came out for their warm up.

"Look, it's Oliver!" he exclaimed pointing to the hoops.

"He's going to warm up," she said pulling her brother into her lap, knowing that several of the other players wives and girlfriends were devotedly eavesdropping on this conversation.

"He's not going to let those Arrows get any goals today!" declared David adamantly.

"I'm sure he'll do his best," she said with a smile as David launched into a discussion on why Puddlemere was the best team in the league, rationalizing everything from their colors to the players.

By the end of the game, Davie had cheered his little heart out, clearly proving himself the most excitable fan in the entire box. Most of the other player's guests found his enthusiasm amusing, flashing smiles at the boy every time he exclaimed over a particularly difficult save or expressed his disappointment in a turnover. Surprisingly, David's optimistic expectation that Oliver could shut out the Arrows proved true with the final score of 230 to 150. Although Appleby caught the snitch, they still lost.

After the game, Katie wasn't sure if she should go, but as no one else seemed in a hurry to leave the box, she and Davie stayed, taking the opportunity to have a small snack from the buffet. In about a half hour, the team trooped in, smelling fresh from the showers and jubilant from the win. Oliver scooped up Davie in an excited embrace.

"YOU SHUT THEM OUT!" exclaimed Davie.

"My good luck charms were here!" replied Oliver with a huge smile which he turned on Katie, making her blush.

"Thank you for the tickets Oliver," said Katie as a prompt to Davie who caught on immediately.

"Yes, thank you! We had so much fun, and we got some food, and the seats are really great! Plus, Katie let me wear her old jersey, see!"

"It looks great on you! I remember when Katie and I went to our first Puddlemere game and our dads bought us matching jerseys. When you grow out of that one, I bet mine fits you."

"Really?!" said Davie, his eyes alight with anticipation. "I'm going to grow fast, Katie always says so. Katie, maybe you could make some of that potassium casserole. I bet that will help me grow faster! Then I can wear Oliver's jersey."

"You're already growing up too fast for me," laughed Katie pulling a face. "Can't you just stay my sweet boy a little longer? Plus you don't like my tuna spinach casserole."

"But I'll be big and strong like Oliver eventually?" asked David.

"Of course!" laughed Oliver. "And you'll get there eventually. Ready to go?" Katie nodded, and he pulled out a portkey necklace that he wound around their hands, forcing them to hold hands. Pressing on a charm, he sent them home.

They landed in the living room in the recently added addition to the flat.

"This room seems even bigger during the day!" exclaimed David, inadvertently revealing that he and Katie had explored the expansion the day before.

"I figured you might want to play in here sometimes," said Oliver before Katie could protest that this was Oliver's living space. "I thought that you might want to turn that alcove over there into a playroom for your toys. That way you will have a little more room to play than you have in your bedroom."

"Thanks Oliver!" exclaimed Davie. "Let me go get my toys!"

"You don't have to do that," said Katie as David exited the large room. "I don't want him turning your space into a mess."

"It's not my space, it's our space. The other alcove is for you. I figured you could use a space to study for your healing exams and this way you can be in the same room as Davie, but it also affords a bit of quiet too."

"Oliver… I…"

"Kates, it's already done and it's yours. I don't have any need for a desk. The last time I did paperwork was when I signed my contracts."

"Ollie, you don't have.."

"I don't have to, but I want to. Now, what kind of casserole are we having for dinner? I worked up a mighty appetite during the game and was anticipating a delicious homecooked meal courtesy of the lovely Miss Bell."

"How about pizza casserole?" she asked with a smile which Oliver immediately returned, his baby blue gaze warm.

"Sounds delectable. It was highly recommended to me by a friend," he said with a laugh as Katie blushed to the roots of her blond hair.

 **I hope you love this chapter as much as I do. I especially enjoyed writing it... Thanks so much for the reviews... Please review and let me know what you think. Thanks, Ellie**


	6. Until the Night

The difference in the next two weeks was amazing. Not having to work at the bar led to much more sleep, which in turn diminished the bags under her eyes. Katie felt much less cranky as her life with Oliver as a roommate settled into a comfortable routine. He was usually gone in the mornings by six for early morning practices. She dropped Davie at school at seven forty-five before heading to work where she usually stayed until five, although sometimes later. Mrs. Patterson continued to help out by taking Davie until five thirty when she could pick him up.

Oliver was usually home when she and David returned home for the day, and he was in the habit of throwing in a casserole before they got home so dinner could be ready by six. The dinner discussions were usually a lively combination of David's stories of school, Oliver's teammates' antics at practice, and the goings on at the hospital. Oliver often helped Katie with the dishes or played in what had been deemed the common room with Davie, sometimes with David's Marvin the Muggle figures or sometimes playing a game of quidditch in the overly large room. Katie had actual opportunities to study, which were almost immediately noticeable on her evaluations improving to near perfect scores as opposed to her previously rather average marks.

In the evening, bedtime turned into a relaxed affair, lingering over books with Davie before enjoying a cup of tea with Oliver, sometimes sharing a crossword but often simply laughing together and enjoying each other's company.

With September, Friday afternoon games started up in the mini-league. It was convenient for Oliver to pick Davie up from school or Mrs. Patterson's house to take him to practice or games. Katie enjoyed coming to the games where Davie was proving himself a star chaser. The Woodchucks were undefeated after their first three games, and Oliver was endlessly amused by his players and their progress.

Oliver didn't have another weekend game until the third week of September, although he had played well and helped the team win a very competitive Thursday night match against the Harpies. He once again provided tickets to the weekend game for David and Katie, who were excited to attend.

"I couldn't help but notice you a few weeks ago. I just have to introduce myself today though," said a very beautiful dark haired woman. "I'm Fionna Blaire, Zane Blaire's wife."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Katie Bell. Oliver is… a longtime friend."

"That's not what I heard," came a smooth voice from behind Katie. Turning, Katie saw the beautiful blonde she had noticed the week before. "I heard you're living with him."

"Be nice Genevieve," said Fionna sounding somewhat irritated with the other woman.

"We recently became flatmates. He's living with Davie and me, which I'm sure most would agree is a step up from living with the Weasley brothers."

"My Burt was threatening to make Wood move in with us if he didn't get out of that place. Coming to practice with pink hair or the like every few days. And we've got our own quidditch team at home to take care of, thank you very much. How Burt talked me into seven kids…" A plump auburn haired woman who was slightly older inserted herself into the conversation. "I'm Bonnie Russell, Coach Russell's wife."

"I don't think there was much talking involved in your decision to have seven children, Bonnie," inserted yet another woman, a pretite brunette. "Elizabeth Riggs, Wes's wife," she said introducing herself as captain Weston Rigg's wife. "Heard you've been taking good care of our Ollie. Have to say Wes was also happy to hear he moved out of that flat in Diagon Alley, and apparently you're also responsible for some improved eating habits."

"Well, I do cook," said Katie, feeling a little overwhelmed by the women who had flocked around her. "It was part of the agreement when Oliver wanted to move in with us."

"So how old is your son?" asked Genevieve with a smirk, looking to David who had pressed his nose to the glass watching the start of the game.

"He's seven, and he's actually my younger brother. I'm his guardian… the war and all."

"Oh, how tragic, you're so young yourself. What an undertaking! I must say I admire you, taking on such a young boy. How long?" said Bonnie, shooting a glare at Genevieve, who Katie was beginning to suspect was not well liked.

"We've been on our own since I graduated in June of '97, so a year and half in December. And there's nothing admirable about it. I am simply doing my best, and there's no one else. He's all I have left."

"He definitely seems well adjusted," said Bonnie. "My son Mikey is seven also, we should get them together sometime."

"Wait! Mikey… he plays on Oliver's quidditch team? His father is Russ- well I guess Coach Russell!"

"Oh! Of course! I haven't made it to any of the games yet, last week Maggie was sick and the week before Mary had a ballet practice… you know how it is! But I've heard about Davie, plays chaser!"

"Yes! They are already good friends on the team!"

"I'll have to bring him to the next match that you and Davie will be attending. He usually gets into trouble if I leave him to his own devices during the game, but if he has a friend. He loves to come, but does get a bit bored."

"Ollie seems to think we're good luck… so I'm guessing any weekend games we should be able to attend," laughed Katie, thinking of Oliver's theory on his shut out.

"Ollie," twittered Genevieve, once again earning glares from the other women and an embarrassed flush from Katie.

"Like I said, Oliver and I have known each other since childhood. My parents were his godparents, and we played on the same mini-league team before Hogwarts where we played on the Gryffindor team together."

"Well, I'm glad he finally has someone here on a regular basis. His parents come to games once in a while, but he's never had a woman using his tickets before, and we do enjoy a new friend," said Elizabeth with a friendly smile. "We have a bit of a player's wives and girlfriends club since we spend so much time with each other watching our men."

"Elizabeth, Bonnie, and I make up the wives portion," said Fionna Blaire with a smile. "Genevieve dates Adam Smith, while Jack Barker usually has a few girls in and out of here every season. Jenkins and Wood never give ladies their tickets though. And Lexi… she's the lone girl you know… she sometimes gives a ticket to a friend or her sister, but more often than not, she doesn't have any support. Her parents died in the war you know."

"It's lovely meeting all of you," said Katie with a genuine smile. "Although, I guess we'll have to add the title flatmate to your club."

"Oh, I sincerely doubt that," said Bonnie with a wave of her hand. "It's not an official title or anything anyways." Katie didn't notice the look Elizabeth and Fionna shared with the smiling Bonnie.

"Katie, look! Oliver is waving!" exclaimed David drawing her attention to the match and her brother. Smiling, she approached the window and waved at the handsome keeper who quickly redirected his attention to the action occurring on the other side of the pitch.

After the team won the match, in which Oliver played spectacularly, the team trooped up, and Katie felt the curious looks of the other women when Oliver scooped her up in a big hug, swinging her around in celebration. "You're my best good luck charm yet, Kates," he laughed. "And you Davie!" he swung the laughing seven year old up onto his shoulders. "What do you say we go out for pizza tonight to celebrate? There's a great pizza parlor in Puddlemere, just a few blocks from here."

"Can we?" asked Davie, his big green eyes pleading.

"Well, alright," laughed Katie as both men gave her puppy dog looks.

"Excellent! I'll treat," said Oliver, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and leading her out of the box calling goodbyes to his teammates, many of whom were making plans to head to a nearby pub.

"You're sure you don't want to go out and celebrate with your teammates?" she asked as they exited the stadium via a back door to avoid reporters.

"Why would I want to hang out with them, when I could spend time with you?" asked Oliver looking genuinely confused.

"I don't know, I just… Thanks for taking us out, we haven't been out to dinner in quite a while. It will definitely be a treat," she said with a smile.

"My pleasure, plus I know pizza is David here's favorite!" said Oliver bouncing David on his shoulders who cheered at the mention of pizza.

A little over a week later, they were in the park for their Sunday quidditch game.

"I'll go set up our lunch," Katie said, knowing that Davie wanted to spend some more time working on his shots but was getting hungry. The grass was a little wet for a picnic, so she was setting their meal at a nearby picnic table when two young men approached the table.

"Hi there!" called the blond one, a bright red quaffle under his arm.

"Good afternoon," she said as he and his friend sat at the table next to the one she was currently setting.

"Enjoying the last weekend of September in the park?" asked the second man, his hair a much darker brown.

"Yes, my brother lives for quidditch in the park," she said making friendly conversation as she set out the pasta salad and grilled chicken she had packed that morning.

"How about his lovely sister?" asked the blond man. "Do you play as well?"

"Once in a while," she said with a laugh.

"I bet you're great on a broom," said the blonde with a smile. "We should play sometime."

"Maybe… Oh, Ollie, Davie, wash up, I just finished setting everything out," she said noticing that David and Oliver had arrived. She watched David take the wet towel she offered before turning to Oliver who was glaring at the leaving men.

"Did you know them?" she asked curiously.

"I was about to ask you the same thing," he said taking the towel from David with a final look in the direction of the departing wizards.

"No, they just came over and were being friendly," said Katie pouring Oliver a glass of lemonade from the thermos she had packed.

"Kates, they weren't just being friendly. The blonde one was making a pass at you."

"Nonsense!" laughed Katie turning to look back at the two wizards who were long gone. "Definitely not."

"He was making a pass… I could tell, you're _my_ chaser," repeated Oliver. Katie gave a slight shake of her head before settling in next to him for her lunch. If she didn't know better she would almost think Oliver was jealous.

Minutes later they were laughing at Davie's story about Marvin the Mad Muggle.

A month or so later, Oliver and Katie were curled up on the big comfy sofa in the common room listening to the Kestrel's game on the wireless. The game had been going for two days. It was proving an interesting game, and they had turned it on and were half listening to it.

"Want to go to the Puddlemere Mid-season party with me in a few weeks?" asked Oliver suddenly.

"Hmm…" asked a tired Katie, lifting her head from his shoulder where she had been resting it.

"Do you want to go to the Puddlemere midseason party with me? It's a bit fancy, but with the Mid-Season break coming up, we have a dinner party with coach and management. It's a lot smaller than the league Holiday party and the end of season wrap up parties."

"I would have to ask Maggie if she can watch Davie," commented Katie, snuggling back onto his shoulder.

"Shouldn't be a problem, I already mentioned it to her, when I picked him up before practice this week."

"Well aren't you something," laughed Katie.

"I do my best. Speaking of the mini-league, we're in the semifinals next week. I think the team has the potential to win the whole league. The boys…" he was soon delving into his strategy for the team.

"Mhm…" the nearly asleep Katie finally said at one point.

"Always falling asleep on me, Bell," he said with a slight chuckle, flicking his wand at the wireless which faded off into silence. Wrapping his arm around her, he rested his head back against the cushions and let himself drift off in front of the dying fire.

The third Friday in November was the league championship for the mini-league, and the Woodchucks had made it to the final game. Oliver had been beyond elated the entire week, and his excitement over the game had spilled over into Katie and Davie's moods. Katie had specifically taken the afternoon off to ensure she made it to the game with plenty of time, picking Davie up from school for once (much to the surprise of his teacher who knew Katie dropped him off every morning but never picked him up.) From there, they headed home where they spent the afternoon making sugar cookies for the entire team, Katie painstakingly piped each of the players' name and letter on the quaffle-shaped cookies.

"Ready to go!?" asked Oliver, apparating in at five from practice, ready to go in his coaching gear.

"YUP!" exclaimed Davie, already in uniform with his broom close at hand. "We even made cookies for the team!"

"Look delicious!" said Oliver, watching Katie pull on an extra sweater before grabbing her cloak and the cookies.

"They're for after the game, so don't get any ideas," she said narrowing her eyes. Oliver chuckled and offered his arm to Davie for apparition to the park. Katie followed with a pop of her own.

After the game, Oliver was absolutely dripping with pride. Which was slightly surprising to Katie considering they had lost. Abet, it had only been by twenty points, but the other team's seeker had caught the snitch, pulling the Rainstorms ahead of the Woodchucks 200 to 180. During the nearly two hour game, the Woodchuck keeper Mikey Russell had kept the other team to 5 goals, while Davie had scored nine goals, assisting four more. Davie was estatic, despite the loss, and Katie could help being excited at his great teamwork and success. He was definitely going to be a good player.

"Second place in the whole league!" crowed Oliver, holding a trophy aloft. "Woodchucks, let's get a picture!" Parents were whipping out cameras as the team of seven and eight year olds crowded around the grinning pro-quidditch player. She quickly snapped a few photos as the children grinned for their parents and passed around the trophy.

"Who wants pizza to celebrate the end of a great season?" asked Oliver. "I'll treat!" A flurry of hands shot into the air and soon the team was tucked into a nearby pizza parlor, still wearing their gear and chatting excitedly about the game. The muggle owners were likely highly confused, but several of the parents shot off spells to prevent them from noticing anything too odd. After all, it was a one time visit and children could be excused eccentricities.

By the time everyone had enjoyed their pizza, the children were winding down and the long exciting day was catching up to them. Parents and children drifted off until it was just Katie, Davie, Oliver and the bill, which Katie refused to even look at, sure it would give her a heart attack.

"Let's get back to the flat," said Oliver, finally finishing counting the muggle money for the third time and sure it was all there. Katie wrapped her cloak around her and helped Davie into his. Waving at the proprietors, they headed home in what was now a cold drizzle.

"Brrr!" growled Oliver, as they unlocked the back door and headed up the stairs to the flat. "It's getting chilly!" Katie smiled and flicked her wand to cast drying charms at him and David.

"How about some tea?" she suggested, letting them into the flat and whipping her wand toward the kettle. "I'll make you some hot chocolate, Davie. I want you to get a bath tonight and it's already pretty late. You can have some after your bath, but be quick about it!"

"Aye aye Captain Katie," laughed Davie saluting her before running into the bathroom.

"He's never going to get to sleep tonight," she said with a frown, looking to Oliver who had settled in at the table.

"He had an exciting day. What a game! That boy is going to be a star. Let's hope he makes Gryffindor," said Oliver, reaching out and pulling her into his lap.

"I know… Merlin, nine goals!" she marveled, settling against his chest. "I was glad you kept the excitement up even though they lost today. The children all felt like winners."

"They are! They got second in the tournament! And if we had caught the snitch, we would have entirely trounced the other team. It was too bad that Natalie didn't get the snitch, but the team played like winners all season, and did such a great job. Coaching the mini-league has been incredibly rewarding. I'm so glad I did it. Especially since it led me to you and Davie."

"I am too." Katie smiled into his eyes before her gaze wandered to his lips only to be startled as the kettle started whistling. Popping out of his lap, she fixed the tea and chocolate while Oliver went to go check on Davie and his bath.

By the time they were finishing their warm drinks, Davie was asleep at the table, half of his hot chocolate cooling in the mug at his elbow. Frowning, Katie moved to wake him up.

"I'll carry him to bed," said Oliver quietly, gently lifting him into his arms. "He's totally zonked."

"He'll be talking about today for weeks though," whispered Katie as Oliver settled him in his bed, pulling the covers around him and brushing his lips over the boy's forehead. Stepping aside, he waited quietly as Katie filled his water glass and brushed her hand over his soft golden hair. "Goodnight, snugglebug," she whispered giving her brother a kiss on the cheek.

In the hall, she quietly shut the door behind her, looking up at Oliver.

"What?" she said at the funny look on his face, turning to go clean up the kitchen before bed.

"I was just thinking it's funny you could ever think you weren't a good mum," said Oliver. "You are decidedly an amazing mother, and if Davie doesn't realize how great you are now, one day he will."

"I… that means a lot…" said Katie, emotions bubbling up. She turned to the sink to hide traitorous tears that were starting to sting her eyes. "Sometimes… Sometimes I forget I'm just his sister."

"You are much, much more than just his sister," replied Oliver wrapping his arms around her from behind and resting his chin on her shoulder.

"Sometimes, I just love him so much it hurts to breathe," she said turning off the water and spinning in his arms to face him. "Do you know what I mean?"

"Yes," Oliver agreed in a strangled voice that, for some reason made the breath catch in Katie's chest.

"Oliver-" she started, feeling him pull away.

"I've got a game tomorrow, I had better get to bed," he interrupted.

"Oh, yes, Davie has been excited to see the Falcon's stadium."

"I'll see you there then, after the game?"

"Of course," she laughed.

"How about my good luck kiss then?" he asked, presenting his cheek.

"Good luck tomorrow, Ollie," she mumbled, pressing her lips to his slightly rough cheek and feeling the small flare of warmth that always accompanied his good luck kisses.

"Goodnight, Kates," he said brushing his lips to her hairline before heading into the wardrobe. Sighing, she leaned back against the fridge. It hurt to breathe.

 **Can't wait to hear what you think! Please review! Thanks in advance for the feedback!**


	7. This Night

**Would really love reviews for this chapter! Enjoy!**

"Last night was fantastic!" exclaimed Bonnie's sister Jane. "Mikey had such a great time. I never realized how great Oliver was with the kids. Although, I haven't really met him more than a few times."

"He had so much fun coaching this season. We are already looking forward to next year," replied Katie with a grin.

"You two looked pretty cozy at the pizza party, and those cookies your mom made were delicious!"

"Oh, thank you, I made them. I can get you the recipe," replied Katie a little awkwardly. She was fairly certain she had told Bonnie that she was Mikey's guardian and sister, but Jane likely had no idea.

"Oh, Davie said he and his mom made them together after school," laughed Jane. "Maybe I got confused."

"Well," said Davie, breaking into the conversation, apparently having heard his name. "Katie's really my sister, but she's more like my mum. Our mummy died, so she takes care of me, and sometimes I tell people she's my mum. Sorry Katie." He looked embarrassed to have been caught in a half truth.

"That's okay Davie. It's okay to call me mum, I know mummy wouldn't mind. I feel like I'm your mum anymore, and if it's easier to talk to people about me that way. I know it's awkward to tell people your parents are gone. It's really one hundred percent okay."

"Okay," he said looking at her with a relieved smile.

"I'm so sorry," said Jane, blushing. "How long?"

"My parents died at Easter in '97, but my aunt helped out and kept Davie until I finished school in June. It's been almost a year and half since we moved into our flat in London. Oliver lives with us now, which is a great help with the bills, and he's been amazing with David. He really needed a man in his life."

"Maybe you needed a man in your life too," commented Bonnie. "You look so much better than the waif who showed up at the Appleby game at the end of August."

"Oliver and I are just friends," protested Katie. "Although, I have been able to quit my second job since he contributes to the rent. I can't deny Oliver reappearing in my life was an absolute godsend. He's the best thing that's happened to us in a long time." She looked toward the keeper just as he knocked away a shot, making a spectacular save. She grinned at the look of triumph that crossed his face as he got back in position, preparing to defend his hoops against further attack. She entirely missed the significant look passing between Bonnie and her sister Jane.

"Burt mentioned Oliver has a date for the Mid-Season Party. He's never brought anyone before, so we were a little surprised when he said he had a plus one. Do you know who he's bringing next weekend?"

"I still need to find something to wear for that," answered Katie, snapping her attention back to the conversation. "What sort of attire do you usually wear? Oliver was a bit vague when he asked if I wanted to go."

"It's not quite as classy as the league Holiday Party, which is floor length gowns, but short robes or cocktail dresses for the Mid-Season party. It's just management, the reserves, and the team, so a smaller gathering to be sure, but we like to keep it classy. They usually invite at least one media representative from the Prophet or Quidditch Weekly."

"Good to know. I'll probably have to borrow a dress from a friend," decided Katie. Angelina or Leanne might have something she could wear. Although, both of them had much darker complexions than she did, and Angelina was much more curvaceous.

"I'm glad that Oliver finally has a woman in his life," said Bonnie.

"What, no… Ollie just asked as friends… I mean… no… He's… no," stuttered Katie, finally realizing what the two older women were assuming. "He's not interested… like that… no!"

"Whatever you say, dearie," laughed Bonnie. "But when a man like Oliver Wood asks a woman to the Mid-Season Party for the first time in five years… I would have thought he could have brought a friend before now."

Once again, Katie felt that tightening in her chest. Looking toward the Puddlemere hoops, the dark haired man in the bright blue and gold uniform, she tried to ignore the way her heart skipped a beat.

A week later, Katie was prepping for the Mid-Season party. Leanne had lent her a light blue dress that fit well enough. The wide neck showed off her collarbones but didn't put much cleavage on display, while the tightly cinched waist showed off her figure before flaring out in a perfect bell thanks to the petticoats she wore under the skirt. Fastening some gold dangling earrings and patting her hair which she had taken the time to curl without magic, she was almost ready.

"Davie's settled in at Maggie's for the night!" called Oliver as she heard him enter the apartment. "Almost ready?" She looked up in the bathroom mirror to see him framed in the door behind her.

"Just about, I just need to put on my shoes. Angelina lent me a fabulous pair of gold pumps, but I have to shrink them to size. Do I look alright?"

"You look," Oliver paused to appreciate her outfit, letting his eyes rake from her head to toe causing her to blush. "Absolutely gorgeous."

"Thank you, you look rather nice yourself in that suit," she said bending to pull on the pointy toed pumps.

"Maggie thought so too," laughed Oliver. "She said to tell you that she's very pleased to see you're going out like a young lady should. I'll have to tell her how beautiful you looked. She'll be disappointed she missed you all dressed up."

"I'm sure that there will be at least one photographer. We could get a picture for her," commented Katie straightening and testing to see if the sizing on her shoes was correct.

"Ready to go?" asked Oliver, offering an arm as she pulled on her dark blue cloak. Putting her hand on his arm, she smiled with a nod as he pulled her tightly to him and apparated away.

Landing outside the Puddlemere United stadium, Katie shivered. The late November air was chilly, but the stadium was lit up beautifully. The party was to be held in the most expensive, largest box at the top of the stadium overlooking the pitch.

Leading her inside the training building, Katie looked around in awe at Oliver's workplace. They passed through the opulent entry, past a glass walled gym full of weights and several office areas before arriving at the lifts and heading up to the 33th floor.

"I'll apologize in advance," said Oliver as they made their way up. "The guys can be a bit overwhelming. They're all great, but… I'll try not to let them tease you too much, but keep in mind they only tease people they like. Genevieve for example doesn't get teased."

"I was on a team with Fred and George, I think I'll be able to handle it," laughed Katie. "But thanks for the warning."

The doors of the elevator opened directly into the large box where the party was already occurring.

"WOODIE!"exclaimed two men that Katie recognized as Jack Barker and Benjamin Jenkins.

"Ohhh, and the little lady," added Jack nodding and putting on his smarmiest look as he looked Katie over. She wished she hadn't given Oliver her cloak in the lift.

"No wonder he doesn't bring her out with us after games to celebrate," joked Jenkins. "Keeping the lovely lady all to himself."

"Hey now, he's just trying to protect her from womanizers like you," came the sultry voice of Lexi Vortex, the only female on the team.

"Now, I protest that, luv. While that may be true about Jack, I am a one lady man," said Jenkins while Jack smirked as if to say it was true.

"Where's your lady, then?" asked Lexi in a teasing tone.

"If I had my way, she'd be you, luv, so as of right now I'm available," he said giving the female seeker a look of pure adoration.

"Looks like you're still available Jenkins," shot back Lexi before turning to greet Katie. "Lovely meeting you, Katie. Wood here never shuts up about you, so I'm glad to see he finally pulled his head out of his ass and brought you along for proper introductions."

"Nice to meet you too, Oliver has the nicest things to say about all of his teammates," replied Katie shaking the tall blonde woman's hand. She'd only just met them, and she could already tell that Oliver's stories of Jenkins chasing the beautiful Lexi Vortex were true.

"The stories about me are likely true then," laughed Lexi. "As for the rest of them… Wood might be judging them by their quidditch skills rather than their personalities. Although, I will say, Oliver here is one of the good ones." Lexi gave what appeared to be a rare genuine smile toward Oliver.

"She's much prettier than you let on, Wood," said Jack Barker.

"Lay off Barker," snapped Oliver putting his hand on the small of Katie's back and guiding her toward one of the tables where he set their cloaks. "Would you like something to drink?" he asked.

"Sure, a glass of bubbly sounds lovely," she answered. Players and upper management were scattered throughout the room in small groups although there were less than fifty people at the party.

"I'll be right back, Kates," he said with a grin before heading to the bar on the far side of the box.

"Miss Bell, you look lovely tonight," said Coach Russell as he approached with his wife Bonnie and another couple.

"Thank you," she said blushing. "Bonnie, you look radiant as always. How's Mikey doing without quidditch practice? Davie pouted all evening Wednesday."

"Thank you Katie," laughed Bonnie. "Mikey was determined to talk his dad into flying with him this weekend. As excited as those boys were to celebrate the championship, I don't think they realized it meant the end of the season."

"Here you are, Kates," said Oliver appearing at her elbow with a glass of champagne. She smiled up at him in thanks. "You already know Bonnie and Coach, but have you been introduced to Mr. and Mrs. Hulbert, the owners?"

"Lovely to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Hulbert," said Katie with a smile, reaching out to shake their hands.

"No, no! Lovely to meet you, Miss Bell. I've heard we have you to thank for our recent winning streak," laughed the portly Mr. Hulbert.

"Kates here is my good luck charm," laughed Oliver.

"I'm hardly a good luck charm, Ollie. Your team is winning on pure talent and hard work, Mr. Hulbert," she said with a shake of her head.

"She's not a believer," joked Oliver allowing his arm to wrap around her waist. "Although, she does humor me before every game."

"Well it's working! Best keeper in the league! Keep this up and you'll have the team record, Wood! _Keep_ thisup! HAHAHA! Haven't had such a season in years! 10 and 2 headed into the break! Tied for first with The Pride! Our only losses early in the season! What a run!" Mr. Hulbert was clearly ecstatic about the recent success of the team.

"Training over the break will be key," said Oliver. "But, I'm hoping we can have a highly successful run in the playoffs. And I'll keep pestering my good luck charm just in case she's the cause."

"She comes to quite a few games with Davie. He's a fan if I ever met one! And he is going to put league records to shame one day!" added Bonnie.

"We're very proud of David. He's shaping into quite the chaser," agreed Oliver.

"And he's loving muggle primary school!" added Katie. "He wrote an essay about his mini-league team that his teacher just raved about- oh my…. We've become _those_ people, Oliver… the ones that go on about their kids!"

"That's embarrassing, we had better change the subject fast!" laughed Oliver. "Do you have any special plans for break, coach?"

"Well, our oldest two are coming home from Hogwarts, and we were thinking about popping down to Spain for a week or so. We'll still be having fairly regular practices most of the holiday, so don't get any ideas about slacking off though."

"Woodie, slacking off?" came a new voice. "He would never! This one's a total maniac if I ever met one. Never late to a practice, never complains. No wonder he's set to be named best keeper in the league." Katie recognized the newcomer as captain Riggs, Elizabeth's husband.

"Dinner will be fairly soon, sit with us!" exclaimed Elizabeth, pulling Katie away from the men who had gotten talking about statistics of some sort. "Where are your things? We saved you two spots at our table with Bonnie, Burt and the Blaires." The two women collected Oliver and Katie's cloaks, moving them to a table closer to the windows. "You look radiant darling, not that you aren't normally lovely, but… Tonight everyone can tell exactly why Oliver is so enamored of you."

"Oliver isn't… enamored with me… We're…"

"Maybe you're friends, but the tension between the two of you could be cut with a knife. Two young, good looking people who are clearly attracted to each other and living together. I would have succumbed to the temptation ages ago!" Elizabeth pretended to fan herself dramatically before taking a hearty drink from her tumbler. "Plus, tonight... with these men in their suits-mmm! Look at my Wes over there… when I get home, I'm climbing that like a tree." Katie felt herself flush and wondered just how much Elizabeth had had to drink that she was being so open.

"I must admit, everyone looks very nice tonight," said Katie politely as the men in question approached the table with Bonnie in tow. Oliver pulled out her seat for her, and Katie sat down as everyone followed an unknown signal to take their seats so dinner could be served.

A waiter brought her another glass of champagne, and she was feeling slightly tipsy, but thoroughly enjoying herself and the company by the time the main course was served.

"And that's how I saved Oliver Wood's life," she laughed finishing the story of the time Oliver tried to drown himself in the showers after their loss to Hufflepuff.

"Kates!" he laughed once more in protest. "I'm sure the Weasley twins would have dragged me out eventually. There was no risk of drowning!"

"My methods were likely much less embarrassing though," she said with a wry smile.

"And less painful I'm sure," agreed Oliver. "Although if you're going to tell humiliating stories about me at Hogwarts, it's only fair I get to tell them about you."

"You would if you had any," she taunted.

"Now, what Kates is forgetting, is that I've known her an awfully long time. Have I ever told you how she became my good luck charm?" Oliver asked the table.

"NO FAIR OLLIE! That was pre-Hogwarts!" she sputtered.

"Hush, I want to hear this," said Elizabeth, pushing a fresh glass of champagne into Katie's hand.

"So Kates here is from Ireland, moved here when you were… seven?" Katie nodded, already flushing. "And I'm from Scotland, if you couldn't tell. But her parents moved here and she joined the mini-league that my Da coached. We let her on after one of our players moved to France even though she wasn't really old enough for the nine to eleven league. I wasn't exactly excited about having a girl on our team, or about having a seven year old on the big kids team. I had just moved up a league and was excited to play with the older children. We didn't get along so great at first.

"There was this exhibition match coming up, Ireland vs. Scotland. And we made a bet that whoever's team lost had to fake a cold for our next game and wouldn't get to fly, which in retrospect wasn't a great bet since then we would have to play a man down. So Kates of course loses, but she's a sore loser. Our parents have a dinner together the night before the next match, and just as we're leaving, Kates runs up to me and plants a wet one on me, in front of our parents who I'm sure thought it was adorable. Giving me a big hug she says loudly, 'Goodluck in the game tomorrow Ollie!' and whispers in my ear 'Now if I fake a cough, I'll have to argue that you probably have it too. Your mum will never let you play if it's raining. And it's London, so it will be raining.' Sure enough the next day was the muddiest, rainiest game in mini-league history. So I told Kates I forfeited the bet, and I played better than ever before. One of the dads on the other team was a player for the Tornadoes. He came over and told me to keep up the good work and I'd be in the pros before I knew it. After that, I made Kates plant one on me before every game I could. I always play superb when she's around for our pregame ritual, so I'm not surprised it's been working all season. We've been great friends ever since, even if she is a girl and supports the Irish."

"Wait!" exclaimed Wes. "You mean to say that she kisses you before every game! That's how she's your good luck charm!? This is getting better and better! I thought she just had to attend or make you some magical toast for breakfast or something."

"Ohh… tell me there's at least tongue involved!" exclaimed Elizabeth with a cackle causing Katie's blush to deepen as she finished her fourth glass of bubbly to cool herself.

"On the cheek!" she protested. "Always on the cheek!" The table laughed and the stories continued into dessert which was followed with more mingling, a little dancing, and a lot of laughter. Katie couldn't remember the last time she had enjoyed herself so much. Conceding to the fact she didn't get out much, she decided it had to have been back at Hogwarts.

"Ready to go, Kates?" asked Oliver. Looking around, Katie noticed that a few others looked ready to leave and the waiters were starting to clean up.

"Let's go before they kick us out," she laughed. "How are we planning to get back?"

"I have a portkey necklace ready to take us back to the flat when we activate it."

"Fabulous, I didn't want to go outside in this freezing English rain to apparate," she said wrapping her arms around his waist and letting him drop the long necklace chain around their necks. They waved and called goodbye to the rest of the party before he twisted the charm and they were being tugged through space.

Arriving at the apartment, Katie giggled before pulling Oliver to the couch and kicking off her golden pumps.

"This was fun. I'm glad you invited me," she said pushing him to sit on the sofa and snuggling up to him.

"I'm glad you came. This was definitely the best Mid-Season Party I've been to yet."

"I can't believe you told them about how I became your good luck charm!"

"They loved it! Plus, it's the truth," laughed Oliver.

"Elizabeth is going to tease me about it now. Plus, she'll never believe it's not a French Kiss!"

"Except for that first one," laughed Oliver. "Although I'm thinking you were more concerned with pretending to infect me with germs than impressing me with your snogging skills- which were terrible by the way."

"I'll have you know I'm an excellent snog!" Katie protested.

"Prove it," said Oliver with a smirk although his eyes shone with a seriousness that belied how many tumblers of whiskey he had thrown back. And there on their cream sofa in their red common room at two in the morning with icy rain pounding on the windows, Katie Bell kissed Oliver Wood for all she was worth. Grabbing his shirt collar, she pulled his lips to hers, proving without a doubt that she was a beyond excellent snogger. She would later decide he wasn't too shabby either. Their lips met in clash of pent up passion, her teeth biting at his lips as he pulled her onto his lap and ran a hand up her spine to tangle in her curly hair.

"Kates," he whispered as she broke away to take a breath. His lips attached themselves to the side of her neck, causing her to let out a gasp of pleasure. Running her hands along his chest, she loosened his tie before running her nails up the back of his neck to muss his soft hair and drag his lips back to hers. His arms, toned to perfection from professional quidditch lifted her by the waist so she was straddling him, putting her in the perfect position to wrap her arms around his neck and lose herself fully in the perfect kiss.

"Oliver!" she gasped as he kissed his way to a sensitive spot just below her ear. Pulling at his shirt, she vaguely realized she had loosened the buttons on it and his vest as she untucked it, giving her searching fingers access to the smooth warmth of his back and the ability to wrap her arms around him. Meanwhile, he was occupying himself with kissing down her neck and along her collarbone, peeling away the straps of her dress which he had apparently already unzipped.

"The bedroom?" he finally managed to ask, pulling away long enough to meet her desire filled eyes.

"Merlin, yes," she said hoping she wouldn't regret her decision in the morning. Somehow he managed to launch them off the couch, hefting her with him and helping her wrap her legs around his waist as he carried her toward his room where his giant bed awaited.

Tearing down the coverlet and setting her on the edge of his bed, he lowered his lips to hers before pulling back and freeing himself of his shirt and vest, tossing the discarded clothing aside.

"I love quidditch," laughed Katie running her hands up his well muscled arms before pulling him roughly onto the bed. Oliver managed to strip her to the waist, running his hands over her, and kissing a trail from her lips to her breast causing her to moan.

"Kates, are you sure? I mean… I've… for so long," he started to ask, nuzzling his way back to her ear. "I'm dreaming."

"No, this is… Merlin… this is actually happening," she gasped. Pulling his lips to hers, she pulled at his hair and allowed her tongue to clash with his. Drawing back again she looked into his eyes, and saw exactly what she needed to see. "Please Oliver, I've loved you all my life, make love to me," she whispered desperately. He didn't need to be asked twice.

In the aftermath, he rolled to the side and pulled her to him, not wanting even inch of space between them. Pressing his lips to her neck, he tried to catch his breath. Feeling dampness on his temple, he pulled back, looking into watery green eyes.

"Don't cry!" he exclaimed. "Damn it… don't cry love, don't cry… I'm so sorry!" He tried to pull back, but her arm tightened around him, as she shook her head.

"No, it was so... perfect… I just love you so much it hurts to breathe," she whispered.

"I love you too, more than you'll ever know," he replied kissing away her tears. "I love you, I love you, I love you."

"More than quidditch?" she asked lightly after a pause.

"A hell of a lot more than quidditch you daft witch!" he said with a raspy laugh.

"I don't want to close my eyes," she finally whispered.

"Me either, I'm afraid to wake up."

"Ollie," she whispered. "Will you still love me in the morning?"

"Always, Kates." And eventually the two lovers drifted off to sleep.

 **Hope you liked this update. Please review and tell me what you thought. I always appreciate feedback!**

 **Thanks for reading, Ellie**


	8. Just the Way You Are

**Thanks for all the lovely reviews, Enjoy the next chapter!**

The next morning, the first thing Katie registered was the warm heavy arm wrapped around her middle. The second was a massive headache from slightly too much champagne, although she could barely focus on the pain considering her thoughts concerning the night before. She and Oliver had confessed their love to each other and fallen into bed. And she had to pee, badly. Peeling his arm away, she escaped the giant bed and hurried into the bathroom where she took care of business, found a bottle of hangover potion, and tried not to glance at herself in the mirror. She debated only seconds before slipping back into bed, considering she wouldn't have wanted Oliver to slink out of the room before she woke up. She was just inching her way back onto her pillow when his strong arm reached out and pulled her to his warm chest.

"Good morning, luv," he whispered in her ear. "I'm glad you decided to come back to bed."

"Good morning to you too," she giggled. "Did I wake you?"

"No, but I let you sneak off with hopes you would be right back," he confessed. "You, love, are absolutely breathtaking in the morning."

"Stop being a flatterer," she scoffed. "I'll have to kick you out of bed for being a liar."

"No way," he said nuzzling her neck. "No one kicks their boyfriend out of his bed. Maybe if it was your bed… maybe I'd let you kick me out."

"So you're my boyfriend now?" she said, realizing that he wasn't just teasing. This conversation was half serious.

"You gave me your virginity and said you love me, that means you're stuck with me now," he answered pulling away and giving her a delicious grin.

"Boyfriend, so what exactly does that role entail? Above and beyond your previous duties as my best friend and flat mate," she asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"You are now entitled to random surprise kisses. You may never know when the next one is coming," he answered confidently.

"Oh really," she said with a suppressed grin as she leaned in closer. "So when is the next one?"

"If I told you," he replied softly, allowing his lips to close in on hers until they were almost touching. "Then it wouldn't be a surprise."

"What if I asked, _very_ nicely," she said deliberately allowing her body to press against his a little more fully, her hands lightly trailing along his spine seductively.

"Hmm," he pulled back and propped himself up on one elbow ignoring her disappointed look. "In that case, I guess I could let you know that the next is scheduled to arrive in approximately five minutes."

"Five minutes!" groaned Katie flopping onto her back with a look of annoyance.

"Just kidding!" he laughed, swooping down and kissing her senseless. When he finally released her swollen lips from his, he smiled and whispered, "See, you were surprised," causing her to laugh out loud before pulling him back into her arms for another. Needless to say, they didn't leave the bed until much later.

* * *

"Do you think she'll be able to tell?" worried Katie as she pulled on her long muggle coat.

"Able to tell what?" asked Oliver before using his teeth to hold his sandwich and shrugging into his leather jacket.

"That… that we.."

"That we shagged last night?" suggested Oliver around a mouthful of his lunch.

"Well… yes… We don't look any different?" she said frowing into the small mirror next to the door. Her reflection smiled back and gave her a thumbs up. "I guess I just feel different."

"Look, if she asks, we can be honest and tell her we got together last night and are dating now. But if she doesn't, we don't have to say anything other than we had a good time last night at the party."

"Let's try to keep it at that since we've decided we don't want to get Davie excited until we have been together a while. If… if things don't work out, I don't want him disappointed."

"Don't worry about us ending things before they've begun, Kates. Now let's go pick up Davie," he said grabbing an umbrella and opening the door.

Picking up Davie, Mrs. Patterson did ask them if they had a good time at the party, but she didn't seem overly suspicious of the new couple. The elderly woman even invited them to dinner later in the week with such a big smile they couldn't help but accept.

"So how was staying the night with Mrs. Patterson?" asked Katie as the three trudged back in the London rain.

"It was fun. She let me watch a movie. There were talking animals and they sang. It was really funny too. I liked it a lot. How was your grown up party?"

"The party was really nice. We saw Mikey's mom and dad. They said that Mikey wanted to have you come over and play sometime. Maybe he'll send an owl over soon," said Katie.

"That would be fun. I miss seeing him at mini-league," said Davie with a frown. "I miss going to the park and playing quidditch every week too."

"Well, I have the next almost two months off of work, so I'll be able to take you more often," said Oliver. "In fact, I'll probably be picking you up from school since I am done with training by noon on days we have training during the mid-season break."

"That will be fun!" exclaimed Davie. "We will get to hang out all afternoon before…Katie gets home from work."

"I see how it is, having all the fun without me!" joked Katie.

* * *

The next week was a nightmare at work for Katie. People seemed to get a little crazy over the holidays and a horde of middle aged shoppers had gotten into a duel over a limited supply of Celestina Warbeck signed holiday records. She was the primary intern on six of the nine duelists, and straightening out that bit of magic was no easy task for the healing team. However, flooing directly home to find Oliver and Davie engrossed in homework or an attempt to cook dinner made her days filled with joy, even if they did have to order out for Chinese food.

"Look! Oliver and I made up plays this afternoon!" exclaimed David running up to the fireplace just as she flooed in from work. She managed to bend and receive the enthusiastic hug from her little brother before he pulled away and showed her the paper he was waving wildly in the air.

"I'm impressed! He's turning you into quite the fanatic though. I hope this means that you finished your homework?"

"We even finished my book report! Oliver helped me build little houses for the three little pigs! Come look! We made this one out of straw that Oliver conjured, and this one out of twigs we found in the park yesterday, and this one out of little muggle bricks that Oliver and I bought at the store next to the one where we went to look for-"

"Where we went to look for straw for the first house," interrupted Oliver, causing Davie to blush in a way that made Katie suspect she wasn't supposed to know about the first store.

"Sounds like you've been busy! These look great. You are going to have the best book report in class," she said with a smile as David's grin widened and he nodded enthusiastically.

"I'm going to go play with Marvin the Mad Muggle, now," said Davie. "Maybe we can read some books after dinner and I'll tell you about Marvin's day too!"

"Okay, bug," laughed Katie as Davie raced off to his room. Turning to smile at Oliver, she giggled as he swept her into a kiss.

"Mmm, what a great greeting from my two favorite wizards in the world," she finally said.

"I missed you all day," answered Oliver before stepping back and sitting down at the table.

"That's right, there was no practice today. Whatever does Oliver Wood do on his days off?" she laughed.

"Well I went into the gym for a few hours, and then I did the grocery shopping for you, and then I ran out of things to do, so I practiced some flying before I picked Davie up from school. We built the houses for his book report and then we invented plays. That kid has a crazy inventive mind. I like the way he thinks," answered Oliver leaning back in the kitchen chair. "Pretty good day overall."

"Sounds like fun, we discharged the first of the shopper dualists today. I was happy to see the back of him. He was quite distraught his entire stay because he didn't actually get a record. I don't know what is about the holidays that turns perfectly sane witches and wizards into raving lunatics."

"Probably just a throwback from their childhood. Everyone loved Christmas as kid," laughed Oliver.

"Speaking of which, what do you think Davie wants for Christmas?" asked Katie pulling out a pan and putting some fresh ground beef in the pan to start cooking. She had reduced the number of casseroles per week to two or three in the past few weeks. Tonight she was making tacos which Oliver in particular loved.

"He hasn't said anything specific, but I was thinking a pair of Chaser gloves," said Oliver with a flick of his wand toward Davie's room to prevent being overheard. "I also saw a couple of action figures he could use to play games with Marvin at George's shop. In addition to a few other things from the shop that might be fun and wouldn't be too dangerous."

"Oh, is George marketing Marcia the Mad Muggle Sister now?" laughed Katie.

"Actually, the action figures are Harry, Ron, and Hermione. I think George wants to come out with a whole line of Order Members and Death Eater Villains, but these are the first ones out. He said he would keep a set back for me if I'm interested. So I don't end up on the intensive care spell damage ward."

"That… I like that idea. And maybe we could look for a book geared toward his age group that explained a bit about the war. While he knew we were terrified, I'm not sure how much he really understood what happened. He was after all only six."

"You are brilliant as always," laughed Oliver. "Any other ideas?"

"Some clothes of course. He needs a few new things. I swear he's growing faster than ever before! Maybe a few other books. I'm surprised you didn't suggest a broom."

"I considered it, but he's doing really well with the one he has. He's still learning how to get the most out of that one. I was thinking we wait until he's nine or ten so he can enjoy it for a year or so before Hogwarts and it's still fairly new when he's trying out for his house team and whatnot. Then when he's a fifth year, we can get him the next top of the line model. Don't want to spoil him too much, luv," answered Oliver causing her to pause in her dicing of the tomatoes.

"You've really thought this out," she said with a slight frown. "I mean, that's a ten year plan. You are really thinking ahead."

"Which isn't even a fraction of how long I plan to stay in your lives, Kates," replied Oliver. "Of course I think about these things."

"It's funny, because I can see us in the parent's tower at quidditch matches at Hogwarts. You'll be screaming like mad when a play goes wrong while considering who should be recruited for the pros, and I'll be a nervous wreck every time a bludger comes within ten feet of him."

"Sounds about right," laughed Oliver. "But back to the holidays. When do you want to decorate for Christmas? I know this is only the first weekend in December coming up, but…"

"We can decorate this weekend. I already have a small fake tree from last year that we can put in here, but maybe we can go out and get a real one for the common room. And some lights and garlands. I think it will look beautiful. Plus, I think Davie will really enjoy decorating. Last year we got really into it because I was too nervous for us to leave the house. I think we spent three days making paper garlands and stringing popcorn."

"Last year was rough, but this year is going to be fantastic. George said there's going to be a giant tree in Diagon Alley, right by Gringots, and they are going to light it up on the seventeenth and sing carols. I think a lot of families will go and enjoy. George thinks some of the shop keepers are going to work together to get some free cookies and hot chocolate offered for the carolers who attend the lighting."

"That sounds like fun. I bet Davie will love that," replied Katie, finishing putting all of the taco trappings in bowls. "Why don't you go grab him from his room, and we can tell him we are decorating for Christmas this weekend. I'm sure he'll be ecstatic."

* * *

David did love decorating the apartment that weekend. The day after their discussion, David and Oliver flooed to St. Mungos to pick up Katie after work. From there they apparated to the Christmas Tree Farm in Hogsmead where Davie picked out his favorite tree, a giant fifteen foot Scots Pine that was only slightly fuller on one side. Getting it into the common room at the apartment wasn't much of a problem with the convenience of magic, but they decorated it sans magic. Unless one counted brooms. Oliver had a small collection of ornaments from his childhood, and had talked Katie into asking her lawyer to petition to get the ornaments from her family's house. There were plenty of ornaments for the two trees, but they still spent the entirety of Saturday afternoon making paper garlands, popcorn garlands, and crafting handmade ornaments for their tree out of cookie dough, paper, glue, lots of glitter, paint and string.

A special trip to the muggle store produced muggle garland and electric lights, which they strung up around the entire apartment, turning it into a cheery glowing space.

"I think we did a good job!" said Davie with glee as he spread out in front of the fire in their common room and looked up at the large tree and the decorations around the room.

"I think so too," said Katie walking in through the wardrobe with a tray of hot chocolate for the three of them as well as a plate of chocolate chip cookies she had been cooking throughout the day. "Almost as good as last year."

"What!?" laughed Oliver in mock outrage.

"Well, we did have more popcorn strands last year, but the ornaments you got from our old house kind of make up for that," decided Davie taking a cookie and a mug with glee as Katie settled in on the sofa with Oliver.

"That's true. I missed the ornaments from mummy and daddy's house last year. It will be nice to have them this year. It makes me feel a little closer to them," she agreed as she snuggled up to Oliver who was tapping his wand on the wireless which had been playing Christmas songs all afternoon.

"There aren't any quidditch games on," pointed out Davie with a sigh, causing Oliver to switch it back to a music station with a groan of his own.

"This mid-season break is killing me," joked Oliver. "I need a vacation!"

"Isn't the mid-season break _supposed_ to be your vacation?" asked Davie.

"Well… actually yes… I guess I just miss quidditch," laughed Oliver. "Good thing I have you two or I wouldn't know what to do with myself."

"Don't worry, we'll keep you busy," laughed Davie.

* * *

The next week was Davie's last week before school let out, and although he loved school, he seemed excited for Christmas and the long holiday from school. On Wednesday, Oliver volunteered to take him to the park after school so that Katie could get a start on her Christmas shopping.

In Diagon Alley, she managed to find a pair of blue and gold pajamas, just the right color for Puddlemere, covered in zooming Quaffles. She couldn't resist getting a pair of the pants in an adult size for Oliver to match the set she got for Davie. The pictures on Christmas morning were going to be adorable. She also managed to find a well written book that summarized the war without being too frightening. She wanted Davie to have at least some understanding of the previous year, especially before he went to Hogwarts.

Stepping into George Weasley's shop, she couldn't help but grin. "KATIE BELL AS I LIVE AND BREATHE!" exclaimed the redhead behind the counter wearing a bright set of magenta robes. He literally leapt over the counter to engulf her in a Weasley hug.

"Georgie," she laughed giving him a peck on the cheek. "You look great! The store looks great! I haven't seen you in far too long! What's new?"

"She asks me what's new!?" exclaimed George dramatically, gesturing to his brother Ron who had taken over behind the counter. "I should be asking _you_ that Miss Bell!"

"What do you mean?" she laughed. "I mean, of course healer training is busy, but…"

"A little birdie told me that you have a boyfriend," said George with a catlike grin.

"That Angelina Johnson…. She should learn to keep her mouth shut… One day she's going to spill a secret someone minds her spilling," laughed Katie.

"So it's true! You and Woodie finally got together!?" George practically crowed with delight. Katie couldn't help smiling and blushing at his words. "FINALLY!" laughed George. "I thought you two would never get together!"

"We… we took our own time, thank you," laughed Katie.

"Well I approve. He's been so good for you, I can see that already. We've had drinks a few times since he moved in with you, and I really hadn't realized how much you were struggling. You know that we would have done anything for you if you had just asked. When I think about you struggling to raise your brother and make ends meet last year…" A look of supreme guilt came across George's face.

"No, no!" exclaimed Katie taking his arm. "You hear me George Weasley. I'm not one to beg for help, but we got by fine. The war was hard on everyone, and while my goal was keeping my brother and I safe and neutral, you were struggling in your own way. I know that while you may not have been struggling financially like we were, you were struggling to fight and make a difference. Something I didn't have the opportunity to do. You helped Davie and I by fighting for peace. More than you ever could have by slipping us a few galleons. Don't you dare feel guilty. I didn't need your help then; and if I had to, I could still take care of Davie and myself without your help, or anyone else's for that matter."

"Last year was rough. I'm just glad you have Oliver now. He's a good man, Katie, and he loves you very very much," said George with a smile.

"I know… and I love him too," she said with a barely contained grin. "He's so good with Davie, and…"

"Speaking of Davie, Woodie said you were in the market for some Christmas gifts for the little man?"

"Yes, Oliver mentioned that you have some… figurines?"

"Let me go get them. We're totally sold out, but I kept back a set for Davie especially."

She took a look around for a few minutes while George disappeared into the back, selecting a few harmless joke items she thought Davie might enjoy including a trick wand and some sweets that changed your voice or appearance. She was admiring the beauty products and secretly wishing she could afford to try the eyelash lengthening wand when George returned with three boxes.

"Your Official Weasley Wizarding Wheeze's Licensed Harry Potter Figurine, Hermione Granger Doll, and Ron Weasley Dolly," announced George loudly.

"SHUT UP!" came the frustrated voice of Ron Weasley. "I thought you had sold the last of those bloody things."

"He's not too pleased that he's a dolly," joked George with a wink. "Although I like to think he's a very handsome one! To magically animate them, press the button on their foot. To turn it off, convenient for times when muggles might be around, just press the button to inanimate them. Wizarding Times named them the top magical toy of the year, and I'm quite proud of them."

"As you should be!" exclaimed Katie looking at the lifelike looking figures in their clear front boxes. "Davie is going to love these."

"On the house of course," said George herding her toward the door.

"Absolutely not, Weasley. Although you could talk me into accepting a discount if you tell me how things with you and Angelina are doing."

"You drive a tough bargain, Miss Bell," sighed George taking in her determined look.

Finally leaving George's, Katie stopped by the quidditch supplies store even though she had already directed Oliver to purchase his choice of chaser gloves for Davie. Walking around the store, she couldn't help but run her fingers over a silky Puddlemere jersey with a golden "K" on the back and "WOOD" across the shoulders. Turning away with a sigh, she started inspecting practice bludgers that were soft balls designed for solo practice to help players learn to avoid the real ones. She was pretty sure Oliver didn't have a set for himself at home, and it could be useful for the mini-league. Deciding that she could splurge for her boyfriend, she tried to hand over the galleons at the register without wincing. But it was a great deal more money than she knew she should be spending. She also tried to ignore the fact that the attractive witch in line behind her was gushing about buying Oliver Wood's Jersey for herself to her friend.

"He's so dreamy!" the witch sighed handing the shirt to the salesman. Katie hurried out of the shop trying not to glare daggers at the girl. After all, she had nothing to be jealous about. It was entirely irrational to dislike the woman for thinking Oliver was good looking.

Hurrying home, she stashed her gifts in her room using magic to make sure that neither Davie or Oliver found their presents. By the time the muddy boys got home from the park, she had a hot dinner of chili and cornbread on the table.

"Mo-… We had so much fun!" exclaimed Davie as he tracked mud and water into the kitchen, setting his broom against the wall before running to the sink to wash his hands without prompting. Flicking her wand, she vanished the mud and magically dried his clothes.

"I made chili and cornbread to help warm you up," she said ladling him a bowlful and cutting him a chunk of bread before doing the same for Oliver.

"Smells great," said Oliver watching Davie dive into his food. "We had a great time at the park with Coach and Mikey. Coach still has some pretty good moves on a broom when you get him in the air."

"I'm glad you had fun. I had a nice afternoon. I got off work a little early and stopped by to see George. He was doing really well. He and Ang must be really happy. She's officially moving in with him and Ron after the new year. She finally found a leaser for her apartment."

"That's great! Did he mention that I asked him to join us on Friday night at the tree lighting in Diagon Alley?"

"No, but it will be nice to see him and Ang. It's good to see him acting more like his old self with the holidays coming up. He was giving Ron a hard time and laughing. I just hope it's not a total act."

"He told me he's actually doing a lot better, and I believe him. He's got a long way to go, but I think the business keeps him going, and his family of course. Apparently he and Percy have gotten a lot closer recently. I think that's been healthy too."

 **Not much substance but some fluff... hope you liked it. Please review,**

 **Thanks**

 **EA.**


	9. She's Got a Way

Two days later, Katie got to see Percy and George interacting for herself. George had recruited his parents, almost all of his siblings and their significant others, in addition to Lee Jordan and his latest girlfriend to attend the tree lighting. She felt a little intimidated in the presence of so many famous war heroes and a little out of place. She could feel eyes on their group and knew people would be trying their hardest to place her unfamiliar face among the celebrities. Davie however had no qualms meeting the many new people.

"And then, my best friend Mikey said that he thought that licorice wands were better than chocolate frogs!" exclaimed Davie with a laugh, not realizing that he was talking to two of the most famous men in the wizarding world. "Chocolate frogs are the best! My… Katie always gets me one from the gift shop at the hospital on days she has to stay late. I have a bunch of cards, but my favorite card is my Albus Dumbledore card. My-Katie says he was a really good headmaster and funny."

"Chocolate frogs are my favorite too!" exclaimed Ron with the enthusiasm of a young boy. "I have about six of him! The best cards are the ones that are really hard to find! Sometime we should trade a few cards so you can get rid of some of your duplicates! I have three Joscelind Wadcock cards, and she's pretty rare. I would be willing to swap one out with you though."

Davie jumped up and down with excitement. "Oliver said she was one of the best chasers to ever play for Puddlemere United! She was brilliant!"

Katie smiled and turned to see Oliver looking down at her. Allowing herself to curl into his side, she enjoyed the warmth of his arm around her shoulders and the rumble in his chest as he talked to Percy Weasley about the chances of Puddlemere winning the cup. Apparently Percy was a Puddlemere fan while his girlfriend was more of a Falmouth fan. She vaguely remembered the girl being a slytherin, so that was surprising. It wasn't surprising that Percy was dating a pretty redhead though.

"Katie," said Mrs. Weasley with a smile. "I feel like I haven't gotten to talk to you yet! I haven't seen you since back before your seventh year. I believe you stopped by to see the twins a few times that summer.

"I did. And you always had the best snacks! How are you doing? I heard you are expecting your first grandbaby next spring?"

"I AM!" squealed Mrs. Weasley, surprising Katie with the excitement that could be displayed by a woman over fifty. "Fleur is due sometime in mid to late May, and we could not be more thrilled. They just announced it to the family fairly recently, but I of course suspected. She has the look of motherhood. We're just so thrilled that something good is happening in this family. And… well… this isn't exactly common knowledge, but most everyone knows how Ginny and Harry married unexpectedly this June. I mean… she's not even finished with school yet! And they are apparently following in my and Arthur's footsteps because… well…"

"NO!" gasped Katie in shock. Molly Weasley was trusting her with a huge secret.

"She's expecting in early April or late March. She's hiding it well, but they won't be able to keep it a secret much longer. She is going to take her NEWTs early in January, so once the media hears about that, the secret will be out. I'm almost certain it's a boy, but Harry is adamant it's a girl."

"Congratulations! That must be so thrilling for the entire family! It's wonderful to hear that good things are happening for such wonderful people."

"Oh thank you, dearie! I just recently heard about your parents from Georgie. So sad, but your brother looks so well. I must tell you what an excellent job you're doing. And that man with his arm around you… he's a keeper. You hang onto him," directed Mrs. Weasley causing Katie to laugh.

"He does do a nice job as Keeper… but I agree… I think I'll keep him around too," replied Katie with a wink at Mrs. Weasley before glancing at Oliver trying to keep a straight face while he pretending not to hear their conversation. She missed the smile that passed between George Weasley and his mother.

Davie thoroughly enjoyed singing at the top of his lungs after the giant tree in the middle of Diagon Alley was lit. Katie couldn't help but enjoy snuggling in Oliver's arms as she watched Davie grin in awe at the pure magic of the ornaments appearing on the tree, glinting gold, silver, and every color of the rainbow against the clear lights.

Tucking Davie into bed, she kissed him on the forehead and brushed back his golden hair.

"I'm glad you had fun tonight, snugglebug," she said.

"You looked like you had fun too," he said softly. "You look happy lately."

"That's because I am happy, love," she answered taking his small hand in her own.

"Is it because Oliver makes you happy?" asked Davie.

"Oliver makes me happy, but so do you. You make me very happy."

"It's okay if you love Oliver too," said Davie matter of factly. "You can even marry him if you want."

"What do you mean? Oliver and I…" she broke off unable to lie. "You are right… Oliver and I are in a relationship. I love him, but that doesn't mean we are getting married anytime soon. He is my boyfriend now though," she answered deciding that Davie deserved to know the truth.

"I know. Oliver said that's why it was okay if sometimes you sleep in his bed instead of your bed. Because when people love each other very much, sometimes they can't even stand to be apart long enough to sleep all night by themselves."

Katie felt her cheeks turn crimson in embarrassment and guilt. "Did you need me at night recently?"

"I came in your room a while ago because I woke up really early and wanted help getting something to eat. Oliver said to let you sleep and helped me get breakfast. He makes pretty good pancakes."

"Does it bother you that Oliver and I are more than just friends now?"

"No, I think you should marry him so I can have a little brother," answered Davie tiredly.

"If Oliver and I had a baby, they would technically be your niece or nephew," answered Katie a bit unsurely.

"Yes… but… I have been thinking about this for a while," said Davie sitting up with a serious face. "I think… maybe… I could start calling you mom. Sometimes…. Sometimes I think… I should tell mom this… and have to correct myself in my head. And… I think mummy would be okay with that, and you said you think of yourself as my mom. And then if you have kids with Oliver, it will be less confusing for them if I call you mom too."

"Well, first of all, you can call me whatever you want. I can respond to mom, or Katie, or hey you… I prefer the first two… and I am honored that you want to call me mom, I think mummy would be okay with it too. But… I don't think we need to worry about Oliver and me having kids for a while. We haven't talked about getting married anytime soon either, so don't get too many ideas. I think Oliver is going to be sticking around for quite some time, but let's not jump the broom."

"Okay, goodnight mom, I love you," said Davie wrapping his arms around her and kissing her cheek.

"Love you too, snugglebug," she said trying to keep her voice even. Kissing him again, she tucked him in, switched out his water, and headed to the common room where she found Oliver in the middle of a floo call. She tried to dry her tears as she admired his bum hanging out of the fireplace.

"Hey love," he said after another minute, pulling his head out of the fireplace. "You okay? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, is wrong," she laughed, her voice still watery as he rushed over to scoop her into his arms.

"You took an extra long time putting Davie to bed, and you're crying. I know he was a little hyper from the Tree Lighting, but he couldn't have been that difficult to put to bed, and why else would you be crying?"

"Davie is going to start calling me mom," she whispered.

"And that's….." Oliver trailed off and gave her a bewildered look as if he hoped she would finish his sentence.

"It's a good thing. These are happy tears… I just… I'm honored… and just… so overwhelmed with love for him… and he's such a darling kid… And what if I don't live up to the name… and…"

"You've already lived up to it… you earned it, Kates. He thinks of you as his mum, and you are… his adoptive mom. And while you're also his sister, you're raising him. You are the primary person in his life for the past year and a half, and while he will always have fond memories of your mum. When he looks back in twenty or thirty years, he's going to have ten times the memories with you," answered Oliver.

"You're right…. As always…. Who were you flooing?" she asked.

"My parents… they just got back from Australia. They can't wait to see you and Davie. My mom sort of guessed we are dating and can't wait to smother you with her love," answered Oliver rubbing the back of his neck. "My dad said he's seen this coming since Mini-League."

"We should invite them for Christmas dinner. Maybe they would enjoy flooing over on Christmas morning to open gifts with us?" suggested Katie. "I mean… It's so fun with Davie. Last year, I barely got him anything. I made him a sweater, and bought him some chocolate frogs. I splurged on some crayons and a couple of new books to read, but when he unwrapped my old broom. His eyes were as wide as saucers and watching him dance around the room. It was the best feeling ever. I am really looking forward to this year. I just need to get a few more things at the muggle department store. He needs new jeans and a few new t-shirts. And I need to make a stop by Honeydukes for candy."

"Just let me know how much money you need for the muggle things, and I'll stop by Gringots Monday," said Oliver.

"Oliver, I'm not going to use your money…" she said with a roll of her eyes. "I mean, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be afford any of the things I've gotten so far, but…"

"Kates, I'm not offering charity. I'm… Well… I guess I consider myself part of the family. I am just contributing. Next year when you get your big old bonus for finishing healer training and you start making the big bucks you can feel less guilty, but eventually you are going to realize that I make more money than I know what to do with and you are going to start spending it like you should."

"Fine… I guess you can help Father Christmas out this year…"

"Good, that's settled then… let's go to bed, love," he said nuzzling her neck.

"Speaking of bed!" she interjected remembering her conversation with Davie. "Why didn't you tell me that Davie caught me in your bed?" Oliver sighed and leaned back, clearly realizing that they weren't going to get to bed anytime soon.

"I told him that we are in love and that we aren't just friends anymore. I explained that when people are in love, they hate spending time apart from each other, even if it's only the night while they are sleeping. That's why married people, and people like us, stay in each other's beds, so that we can be together even when we're asleep. We sleep better that way. Plus, that way if you get scared during the night, I am there to take care of you or protect you from bad things."

"He seemed much more fixated on the first answer… When did you guys have this little talk?"

"The morning after we decorated the house for Christmas, so about two weeks ago, I guess," answered Oliver.

"So we've been deliberately not telling him about our relationship for that long, and he knows it?"

"I told him that you were worried about telling him before we were sure we were going to stay together. It's not like you aren't always snuggling up to me in front of him anyways. The kid isn't stupid, I think he would have known something is up for a while if I hadn't talked to him that day."

"I mean… okay… Yes… I was just surprised…" answered Katie.

"He wasn't upset about it, or I would have told you. He seemed excited, and said he thought that I made you happier and that was good," said Oliver scooping her up and carrying her to his room.

"I can walk," she laughed. "And he seemed to have the idea…"

"Can we not talk about your brother?" growled Oliver, dumping her on his bed. "I love him… I do… but right now… I just want to love you…" He punctuated each pause with a kiss, leaving Katie smiling up at him slightly dazed and nodding. "Good."

* * *

December twenty-third, found Katie exhausted after a 14 hour shift. She had sunk down on the bench in the intern locker room about three minutes ago, but she hadn't found the strength to get back up, change out of her dirty robes and head home. She had flooed Oliver around six and told him to go ahead with dinner, she wasn't sure how late she would be staying. Hopefully Davie was in bed already, considering it was ten pm.

"Bell," barked a voice behind her. Shooting to her feet, she spun to see Healer Pierce, her primary supervisor in the doorway.

"What can I do for you?" she asked, hoping and praying it was something quick like running down to get labwork.

"I just wanted to let you know that you have off until the third of January, enjoy your holiday."

"What? No, back in July I volunteered to work the holiday period. I know a lot of the office healers take winter break of Hogwarts off, and we keep staff at a minimum, but I volunteered to stay on and none of the other trainees wanted to work."

"I know, but you also volunteered last year. And I had a special request that you take the time off. The person thought you needed it, and I think you've earned it. Your improvement over the past few months has been noted, and I think you're shaping up into a top healer. However, everyone needs a break, and Winston has been underperforming for a while. A little extra time in the pit is exactly what he needs."

"I…"

"Say thank you," said Healer Pierce.

"Thank you," said Katie with a false smile as she worriedly ran through the numbers in her bank account and how much money was due at the end of the month and how much she had spent on gifts.

"Now go home and enjoy your holiday. You've earned it."

Somehow, the frustration at a forced vacation gave Katie enough energy to change out of her scrubs and floo home. Once she got there, she barely made it five steps before she decided she would rather collapse on the sofa rather than go a step further.

"Love?" came Oliver's voice a second later. She groaned into the cushion as he popped his head out of kitchen. "I kept some dinner warm for you," he told her, heading over to sit next to her.

"Too tired," she moaned.

"Okay, then how about you go to bed then?" he suggested.

"Too tired," she repeated, pulling her lime green robes around her like a blanket and snuggling into the cushion of the sofa. Shaking his head he watched her try and get comfortable, kicking off her shoes in the process.

"Up you go," he said walking over and picking her up easily. She managed a slight protest but was mentally and physically exhausted, having decided that she could get up before work and finish up her Christmas shopping at five am that morning. That had been before she knew that the four other interns that worked today were all sick, and she would have to work a fourteen hour shift.

She was already asleep by the time that Oliver managed to get her out of her clothes and tuck her into bed. Shaking his head he smoothed the pale blonde hair spread across the pillow. Heading back to the kitchen, he put the leftovers away and finished wrapping the presents he had gotten. Hours later when he slipped into bed, he almost laughed at the way she snuggled over to him almost immediately.

 **Thanks for reading. I know this chapter is mostly fluff... Also, sorry for not posting it this weekend like usual. I was way too busy... I feel kind of like Katie at the end of this chapter. Plodding through life exhausted all the time. Anyways, please review. Thanks. E**


	10. Christmas in Fallujah

**Super sorry for the long silent stretch. Been super busy. Happy Halloween! Enjoy**

The next morning, Katie was feeling a bit flustered but managed to wrap and stash all of Davie and Oliver's presents by the time they woke up.

"Happy Christmas Eve Mom!" chirped Davie, rushing into the kitchen. His hair was sticking up in all directions, but he was clearly excited for the holiday.

"Happy Christmas Eve, Davie," she laughed. "I made scrambled eggs for breakfast with toast and bacon. Do you want pumpkin juice or milk?"

"Pumpkin juice," answered Davie.

"Milk!" answered Oliver entering the kitchen from the wardrobe.

"Morning, luv," she said allowing Oliver to kiss her good morning as he took his seat at the table.

"You already eat?" he asked as she set two already prepared plates of food in front of them.

"I was up early. I was starving since I barely ate yesterday," she answered.

"We missed you!" said Davie. "We went over to Mrs. P's and played a board game and had hot chocolate and pie."

"Sorry I missed it, things got crazy at the hospital," said Katie remembering the plans. "I'm glad you had fun with Mrs. Patterson though. Did she want to come over for dinner on Boxing Day? You asked her, right?"

"She said she would love to come," answered Oliver. "And my parents are for sure coming tomorrow. Mum said she would bring a pie, a side of yams, and the potatoes for Christmas dinner."

"Perfect, I never make yams, and I hate peeling potatoes. Plus, I was planning on making biscuits today, so if she makes a pie we will have plenty of desserts."

"Can I help!?" exclaimed Davie. "Last time we made cookies for the team, you said I was a great helper!"

"Or course you can! I wouldn't make them without you!" she laughed. "This time we can even use the Christmas cookie cutters and decorate them with lots of colors. I think we might even have to let Oliver help."

Most of the afternoon was spent making a fantastic variety of Christmas cookies including trees, stars, ornaments, candy canes, and Father Christmases. Oliver carried the wireless from the common room, and they danced around the kitchen singing Christmas tunes and munching on sweets.

"I think we did a good job," said Katie a few hours later, finally wiping the last of the flour off her hands and looking around the newly cleaned kitchen. All of the cookies were safely in tins, at least those that hadn't already been eaten, and Davie was laying on the floor coloring while Oliver scanned the afternoon paper.

"I'd say! I'm stuffed and I never saw such pretty cookies," said Oliver setting the paper aside.

"Look at the picture I drew for Father Christmas!" exclaimed Davie, holding up his picture.

"That's beautiful, love," said Katie. "Can we hang it on the fridge until tonight when we can set it out with the cookies and some carrots for his reindeer?"

"Sure," answered Davie.

"So what do we want to do now?" asked Oliver.

"Well we could take a nap," suggested Katie, laughing at the horrified look that Davie made. "Or… I was thinking maybe we could start a little family tradition." She watched as Davie immediately perked up.

"As long as it doesn't involve eating. I think I had way too many cookies," laughed Oliver.

"How about a game of quidditch at the park? It's not too cold, and I'm pro at warming charms," she suggested.

"YES!" squealed Davie, already rushing to his room for his gear.

"Bundle up!" she called after him. "Sound like a plan?" she asked Oliver.

"This is yet another reason why I'm completely in love with you," he said shaking his head in bemusement. "Comes up with the perfect way to spend every single day of the year."

After the park, they ordered pizza, and Katie got started on the turkey for Christmas dinner with Oliver's parents the next day. All three of them snuggled up in Davie's much too small twin bed and read the wizard's Christmas story, complete with the story of Nicholas Flamel, also known as Father Christmas. While the two adults knew that he had recently passed away, they also knew that his great great great grandson was currently carrying out his work. They also knew that the Flamel family mostly granted gifts to poor muggle children nowadays.

Tucking Davie into bed, kissing his golden head, Katie wondered how the holiday could get any better. "Goodnight mom, goodnight Oliver. Love you," said Davie, snuggled up in his new pajamas for Christmas morning.

"Goodnight snugglebug," she said, closing the door behind her and discretely casting a charm that would alert her if Davie left his room during the night. She didn't want to worry about him walking in on her and Oliver setting the presents around the tree and filling the recently hung stockings.

If playing Father Christmas was fun last year, it was doubly fun this year with Oliver to help her. Arranging the presents under the tree and filling the stockings, mostly with candy for her and Oliver, she was having a great time. They nibbled on the carrots and munched on the cookies that Davie had left out for Father Chistmas. She pocketed the drawing, planning to hang it in her locker at work where he wouldn't stumble on it. By midnight, they were done with everything, the camera was out and ready to take pictures the next morning, and they were happily snogging in front of the fire.

"Happy Christmas, Ollie," she whispered as the clock rang out the hour.

"Happy Christmas, Kates."

The next morning, Katie groaned as she heard Davie enter their room. "Wake up!" he exclaimed. "Father Christmas came! Father Christmas came!"

"Really?" asked Oliver. "I was sure you were getting coal."

"Oliver!" protested Davie.

"Happy Christmas, bug," said Katie deciding to open eyes.

"Wake up mom! I want to open the presents!" he said pulling on her arm.

"Can't you let us sleep another hour?" she pleaded, nearly laughing at the distraught look on Davie's face.

"But Mr. and Mrs. Wood are here!" he protested.

"WHAT!?" she exclaimed, all pretenses of lingering in bed gone. She felt a blush spreading over her body, but tried to push it down. She had known the Woods since she was a girl, and if they were going to judge her, they had to judge Oliver too. She hadn't realized they would be flooing over quite so early or she would have made the effort to keep up the pretense she slept in her own bed.

Oliver groaned and rolled out of bed. "I'm up," he said. "Let me just brush my teeth. Happy Christmas, Davie." He ruffled Davie's hair as he hurried to the bathroom.

"Come on, mom!" said Davie impatiently as Katie rose slowly from the bed and pulled her scarlet dressing gown on over her pajamas.

"I have to brush my hair and my teeth quickly. Why don't you go see if Father Christmas ate the cookies you left out for him."

"They were going to find out soon enough," said Oliver before she could say anything as she entered the bathroom. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about, love."

"Happy Christmas," she said, kissing him. "Just don't make me face them without you."

"Happy Christmas," he said with a smile. "And I won't."

Five minutes later, they walked out of Oliver's bedroom into the common room where Mr. and Mrs. Wood were sitting on the sofa, each still wearing their dressing gown.

"Father Christmas ate all the cookies, but look at the reindeer teeth markings on the carrots!" exclaimed Davie, taking the half eaten carrots over to show Katie and Oliver. "Oliver! Your pajamas look just like mine! We match!" he exclaimed.

"Katie thought they would look good on both of us," laughed Oliver showing off his pajama pants. Although his shirt was a plain one, the pants matched perfectly. "Happy Christmas Mum and Dad!" he hurried over to hug his parents, giving his mom a loud kiss on the cheek.

"Oh!" exclaimed Davie. "HAPPY CHRISTMAS MOM!" he ran to Katie and hugged her, allowing her to pick him up and swing him around even though he was probably too big.

"Happy Christmas, love," she said, setting him down with a loud kiss. "Happy Christmas Mr. and Mrs. Wood," she said with a smile.

"Katie dear, Robert and Aileen, call us Robert and Aileen. Happy Christmas," said Aileen, crossing the room to hug Katie.

"Happy Christmas Katie-Bug," said Robert hugging her before Oliver pulled her over to the large armchair and into his lap.

"Go ahead, open your first present," said Oliver, reaching behind him to grab the camera and snap a few shots of Davie rummaging through the pile to find the perfect first present. He finally settled on a smallish one, which turned out to be a box of treats from George's shop.

"Mr. George told me about these!" he exclaimed. "At the tree lighting! Father Christmas must be quick! I didn't even tell him I wanted these!"

"Just don't eat them all at once, you'll get a tummy ache and who knows what would happen," warned Katie, wondering just what George had told Davie about those sweets that he knew what they were. She had thought them fairly innocuous when she purchased them… but with George, one never knew what mischief one could get up to with 'innocuous' things.

"Here, open this one Oliver! Mom helped me pick it out for you last week," said Davie, bringing a present to Oliver.

"Wow! My very own secret play book!" exclaimed Oliver with a laugh. Katie and Davie had spent some time decorating the front of a journal with the words "Oliver Wood's Super Secret Play Book".

"Since you're always drawing plays on scraps of paper around the house, this way you will at least have a place for all of them," said Davie, causing Mrs. Wood to smile and nod in agreement.

"Okay, open another one," said Katie. "I think that lumpy one by the purple ornament has your name on it."

"It's chaser gloves! Look!" Davie tried them on, demonstrating a perfect fit. "They're just like the ones the Puddlemere team wears!"

"You played chaser too, didn't you Katie?" asked Mr. Wood.

"Yes, but Davie is even better than I was at his age," said Katie, causing Davie to blush. "He loves the game just about as much as Oliver."

"Open another one, Davie. This one is from me and Aileen," said Mr. Wood.

Davie ripped into a broom care kit, which he loved, hugging both Mr. and Mrs. Wood enthusiastically despite having met them only that morning.

"Bring me that red square box, Davie," said Katie getting up and moving to the floor to clean up some of the paper. "That one is for Oliver from me."

"Thanks, Kates, I already know I'll love it," said Oliver before tearing into the paper. Pulling out the black bludger, she watched his eyes widen. "IT'S A PRACTICE BLUDGER!" he exclaimed. "I saw these advertized in Quidditch Weekly last week, but they were out at the supply store. Dad, it's a bludger that you can practice with when you're alone. It tries to attack you at random while you're practicing, but it's actually soft, so it can't really harm you. Kates, this is fantastic!" He bent down to kiss her while Davie winced.

"Can I open another!?"

"Go on!" said Katie, watching as he opened a few muggle clothing items followed by a new box of crayons and a trick wand from George's store. Oliver's parents gave her a sweater, a Christmas ornament from their trip to Australia, and new stylish leather satchel purse filled with beauty products from George's shop. From Oliver, she received a pair of golden pointy toed shoes, a set of Puddlemere jerseys with his name and a K on the back, one in white and one in blue for home and away games in addition to a bigger sized one that she suspected was for pajamas. She couldn't help but remember wanting one at the quidditch shop, and now she had three.

Davie loved the figurines of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and seemed pretty excited about the book. By the time that they were done with presents though, Katie was pretty hungry.

"So how about breakfast before we open up our stockings?" she suggested.

"But…" Davie's face fell and he looked to Oliver.

"Sounds like a good idea... I'm starving.

Breakfast was delicious and gave Katie a chance to check up on the turkey and the Christmas dinner.

"Relax, darling," said Mrs. Wood, forcing Katie to sit down. "Just enjoy your morning tea and a cinnamon roll."

"Kates doesn't know the meaning of relax," laughed Oliver. "She's always on the go." He pulled her into his lap and captured her with his arms. "Just enjoy some breakfast, love."

Katie sighed, but let herself snuggle into Oliver's arms and enjoy some delicious rolls and some hot tea.

"Can we do stockings now!?" Davie finally begged, tugging on Oliver's sleeve after having scarfed down two big rolls and a big glass of pumpkin juice.

"Alright," laughed Katie. Davie whooped with excitement and led the group back into the common room.

Rushing to the mantle, Davie pulled down the stockings, including the ones for Robert and Aileen and proceeded to deliver them to their owners.

"Davie! You gave mine to Oliver!" laughed Katie from the chair as Robert and Aileen settled on the sofa and Davie joined them.

"That's alright, I'll deliver yours love," said Oliver, crossing the room to hand her the stocking with her name on it. She decided to go ahead and sample a chocolate frog. She felt herself frown as she reached in and her hand encountered a soft velvet rather than the smooth cardboard of the chocolate frog boxes she had stuffed her stocking with the night before. Closing her hands around a small box, she involuntarily sucked in a sharp breath as she looked at the small red velvet box. She looked up at Oliver who was still on the floor in front of her chair from delivering the stocking.

"Kates," he said softly. By his voice, she didn't need to open the box to know what was inside. She knew it wasn't going to be earrings, or a necklace. It was going to be a ring, and not the right handed kind. "I won't put you to sleep with some long speech about loving you more than quidditch, but the jist of it is I've loved you longer than you know, and I want to be a part of you and Davie's life permanently. Will you marry me, Katherine Bell?"

"Yes," she managed to get out around the emotional frog in her throat. "I love you too." She finally managed before he swooped in to capture her lips in a kiss.

"Aren't you even going to look at the ring?!" exclaimed Davie. "It only took us AGES to pick it out!" Laughing, they pulled apart and Oliver opened the box with slightly shaking hands to slip the shiny engagement ring onto her finger.

"It's…. so beautiful!" she gasped, admiring the simple yet elegant cut of the very large diamond set on a simple band.

"There were a lot more… well there were lots of rings to choose from and if you don't like this one… I just…"

"It's perfect!" she said cutting him off with a kiss. "I would have loved anything that came from you, but this one really is perfect! Especially because as a healer, something with lots of little details would need to be cleaned almost daily. It's simple, but it's so beautiful, and it's perfect for me."

"Can I get a good look?" asked Aileen, wiping her eyes and reminding the couple of her and Robert's presence.

"Of course!" exclaimed Katie, rising and heading to her future in-laws who embraced the happy couple and expressed their enthusiasm over the engagement, which they had also known about from Oliver.

"Did everyone know except me?!" demanded Katie after things had finally settled down.

"Pretty much," answered Davie. "Mr. Weasley wanted a fancier ring, but I thought you would like this one."

"George Weasley knew!?"

"Percy actually, I'm going to need someone for my best man."

"Oh gosh! I need to owl Alicia, Ang, and Leanne!"

The rest of Christmas day passed with the joy of being together and the excitement of the couple's engagement. Dinner was of course delicious, and while Oliver, Roger, and Davie set up an indoor quidditch match in the oversized living room, Katie and Aileen sipped tea laced with Irish Cream and talked weddings.

"Of course you'll have to come help me find a dress!" said Katie. "I'll let you know when I set a date to go shopping, but if you can't make it, let me know right away. It's just as important to me that you're there as my bridesmaids."

"I'm so honored you want me to come along," exclaimed Aileen. "So what colors are you thinking?"

"So did you have a nice Christmas?" Oliver asked as they turned down the sheets and got ready for bed that night.

"Oh, you know, it was alright," replied Katie with a shrug. "Some bloke asked me to marry him, figured I might as well say yes."

"Why you ungrateful little witch," laughed Oliver pulling her into his arms and pinning her to the bed. Giggling, Katie tried to get away as he tickled her.

"It was the best Christmas ever," she finally managed as they caught their breath. "I… I wasn't expecting a proposal, but… it feels right. Everything about being with you feels like it was meant to be. I love you Oliver Wood, and I can't wait to be your wife," she sealed her statement with a kiss.

"Good, because I was thinking we could get married either right before or right after the league finals," pronounced Oliver with a grin.

"But that's May! It doesn't give us much time!" she exclaimed, drawing back.

"I figured we could actually take a honeymoon during the off season, plus I'll want to spend all my extra time with my bride," he suggested. "Plus, I'm hoping that if we can stay top three in the league, Puddlemere will have a nice rest up period of the off week and the two by weeks before we have to start May Madness. April would be a really nice time to get married."

"But what if you don't have those two by weeks, and you have to play in the first round? We won't even know what week you'll play until they do the draw!"

"So we get married April 21st, it's the only Saturday I'm guaranteed not to have a game. Plus, then I can show you off two days later at the Monday night May Madness Match Up Gala."

"I guess that works, although don't think I don't realize your underlying reasons for this expediated wedding," she conceded.

"That I want my good luck charm to be sporting my last name?" he joked.

"If we wait until after the end of season party the first week of June, we might run into the problem of you being asked to the English National Team for the World Cup this Summer. Rumor has it that a certain ruggedly handsome Scotsman is the front runner being considered for Keeper. You know, if you pay attention to that sort of thing," she added with a wink.

"Well now that you bring that up, I do want to keep my options open… you know, in case they ask me. I wouldn't want to have to turn down the English National Team."

"Of course not," laughed Katie, pulling her fiancé in for a kiss.

"April 21st!" shrieked Leanne. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"When you look at the professional quidditch schedule, it really does make sense," said Katie calmly. Mrs. Patterson had just left an hour ago, and Katie had asked Leanne to floo over to tell her the big news.

"I'm not saying you don't know Oliver, I mean you've been friends for years and known him longer than you've known me. But, you've only really been dating the guy a month!" said the ever practical Ravenclaw. "I mean, he's nice to look at, but do you really want to spend the rest of your life talking about quidditch?"

"Leanne, stop trying to play Dark Lord's Advocate! Oliver's been living with Davie and I since August, and I've loved him almost my entire life. Quidditch obsession aside, I know that he truly loves me. Besides, I've been known to enjoy a good quaffle toss on occasion. When you think about it, professional quidditch complements my career as a healer almost too perfectly. When Davie's at school, it's usually the off season or break, but during the holidays, Oliver will be around for Davie and any other future children. I know you've always thought he was sort of a big dumb jock, but he's actually quite clever. He's best friends with Percy Weasley for goodness sake."

"Percy the Ponce?" asked Leanne skeptically.

"The one and only BigHead Boy," laughed Katie before looking around to make sure that Davie and Oliver were still in the other room playing with Marvin the Mad Muggle and Hermione the Magnificent Muggleborn, who had somehow become Marvin's second cousin. "Percy's actually rather nice. We've had him and his girlfriend Audrey over for dinner before we started dating, and one night, Davie stayed with Mrs. Patterson and we all went out dancing a few weeks back. He's actually a rather wonderful friend to Oliver. I think they do things together more than I realize, especially since I've heard Percy has loosened up a bit at the ministry."

"Well, you've at least convinced me you know what you're getting into by marrying Oliver. He's quidditch crazed, hangs out with _Weasleys_ , and he's obviously very good to you and Davie. He's a family man, and after losing most of yours, he's exactly what you need to help rebuild," said Leanne. "So when are we going dress shopping? And please don't tell me you're going to put me in something hideous!"

"I was thinking gold might be nice, maybe with some light blue accents. Or perhaps red. I really can't decide. Blue to match his eyes, or maybe red for our house colors. Is that too cliché? I mean, with the international confederation moving this year's world cup back to this summer, there's a chance he could make the national team. Those colors are of course red and white."

"Well, of course my preferences are going to be blue," laughed Leanne. "But by all means, make me look like a bloody gryffindor…"

 **Thanks for reading- please please please review!**

 **Ellie**


	11. She's Always a Woman

**Please review, I will need a little motivation and inspiration for the next chapter. Hope you like this one.**

"Do I look alright?" asked Katie, nervously patting her hair. It was currently done in an elegant updo of curls pinned just behind her left ear. Turning ever so slightly to the right she angled herself in the mirror once more to observe how it looked. Her makeup was much heavier than usual, and her pale green eyes were intensified by the glittery shadow and dark liner.

"I think you're going to knock his socks off," laughed Alicia Spinnet.

She had come home from Romania for the holidays, and was getting ready at Katie's while Oliver dropped off Davie at Mrs. P's. Alicia had agreed to be the last minute date for Jack Barker, because despite being a living breathing womanizer, he was apparently an old family friend who needed a date. Plus, she wanted to use the opportunity to mingle and plant the suggestion of a world cup in Romania. She would after all be in charge of helping coordinate it.

Alicia had curled her light brown hair into gentle waves and left it loose on her bare shoulders. Her black dress was understated and almost business-like, but she wouldn't attract much attention as Jack's date by dressing simply.

Katie was dressing up not only for Oliver, but the team as well. She had found an outrageously expensive floor length navy blue dress that sparkled like stars when she moved. It had a sweetheart neckline and hugged her body like a glove, but the most risqué aspect was the fact it was almost entirely backless. Charmed to stay in place, the fit was amazing, and for the price it needed to be. The floor length gown hugged her until just past her hips when it started to flare out into somewhat of a mermaid shape with a slight train.

It was the most beautiful dress Katie had ever seen, and she still couldn't believe she was wearing it. Oliver had yet to see it on, but she was fairly sure he had peeked at it in the closet, which she supposed was alright, since she had let him pay for it. However, since they were announcing their engagement to the rest of the world tonight, and putting her on spotlight to the media, she wanted to look her best for Oliver. She knew that with their short engagement and their short relationship, there would be a lot of speculation about her being a gold digger, or the possibility of an unplanned pregnancy. She just hoped the media wouldn't tear her apart too terribly.

"Kates? Alicia?" called Oliver. "I found Jack, and we're ready when you are."

"We're ready!" called Alicia snatching up her bright blue cloak and exiting the bathroom where the girls had gotten ready.

"Coming!" called back Katie as she second guessed her decision not to wear any jewelry other than her engagement ring. Alicia had convinced her it was the right thing to do, but maybe a pair of dangling earrings.

Almost tripping, Kate stumbled through the door of her and Oliver's bedroom, wincing that this was the first impression Oliver would have of her tonight. She felt her face heat and hoped that the layers of make up would hide the bright blush.

"Kate," said Oliver softly, his voice taking on a slight hitch. Looking up she could tell he definitely liked the dress. And he hadn't even seen the back yet.

"What do you think?" she said trying to rely on her confidence before giving a cheeky grin and a twirl. She was more than a bit pleased to see the look on Oliver's face was a bit dazed.

"I think it's a good thing Alicia and I are here. Otherwise, I'm not sure you guys would be at the party on time," laughed Jack. "Earth to Oliver, we need to get to Hollyhead."

"You look… amazing, nearly perfect," said Oliver taking Katie by both hands and kissing them gently.

"Why thank you," Jack said brushing his coat a bit and puffing up self importantly. Alicia rolled her eyes.

"I've just the thing to finish off the look," whispered Oliver, reaching into his breast pocket to reveal a long black velvet box.

"Oliver!" gasped Katie as he opened the box to reveal a silver and sapphire necklace that complimented her dress perfectly. The large, deep blue stones obviously cost a fortune, and she wasn't sure she could accept such an extravagant gift after he had already bought her dress. "I can't… it's too much."

"Of course you can. Let's see how they look on," he said turning her and running his hands over her skin liberally as he fastened the necklace. "Merlin," he said giving a soft whistle.

"Thank you, Oliver," she said blushing and deciding she wasn't going to argue if he kept looking at her like that. Reaching up, she pulled him down for a quick kiss.

"Let's move it lovebirds!" huffed Jack despite Alicia's elbow to the ribs at ruining the moment. "What?" he asked her raising his eyebrows.

"Alright, let's go," said Katie, grabbing her long grey cloak, wand, and clutch.

The girls grabbed the gentlemen by the arm, and they spun almost simultaneously into non-existance. Popping back into existence, Katie found herself and Oliver in a small room, almost like a broomshed.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"We're going to arrive in Hollyhead via flying carriage. Coach has one for each of the players and him and Bonnie. All the teams are going to arrive in some sort of style. I heard the Pride are arriving by flying cars and the Harpies were getting special permission to use flying carpets."

"I just heard the Cannons are gonna hop on the Knight Bus!" exclaimed Jack pulling open the door and popping his head in. "The carriages are here, let's get in!"

Katie gasped at the line of golden carriages harnessed to sets of white horses with massive white wings. "Do you think this will be dangerous?" she whispered nervously.

"I think the most dangerous part will be trying to keep my hands off you on the fifteen minute ride over," Oliver acknowledged softly as he helped her into one of the first carriages. "My hands are itching to run through your hair."

"Don't make me get my wand out," she scolded scooting across the carriage and patting her hair gently.

"Don't worry, I'll be a very good boy," said Oliver with a grin as he took his seat and the carriage began to move of its own accord. She allowed herself to relax a little as the familiar sensation of flight came upon them. "Until we get home," he whispered in her ear, causing her to give a little shiver.

The carriage touched down less than ten minutes later with a gentle sway, stopping almost immediately. The noise level outside the carriage was a dull buzz that promised quite the crowd as soon as they opened the door.

Katie tried for a smile, and Oliver shook his head before swooping in and kissing her senseless. "Merlin, I love you witch," he whispered before placing a quick peck below her ear and opening the door. Hopping out, he was careful not to let himself be blinded by the flashes of the cameras as he turned and helped her out of the carriage, lifting her out effortlessly before placing a steadying hand on the small of her back.

Katie managed a real smile up at him, thankful for the warmth of his skin on hers as she tried to ignore the ungodly amount of flashes around them. An underling of some sort ran up to them, taking their cloaks, revealing her dress and Oliver's tux, causing the photographers to nearly double their frantic snapping. Strategically keeping herself on Oliver's left side, Katie allowed Oliver to guide her up the red carpeted runway toward the Hollyhead stadium entrance where the party was being held this year. Each year a different stadium was used, the field being converted to a lavish open air ballroom with magical climate control.

A third of the way along the red carpet, Oliver stopped Katie and they posed, trying to make it look as natural as possible (although Katie had demanded they practice at home the day before). She turned in slightly to show off the back of her dress and placed her left hand on Oliver's chest where her ring would be on display. She smiled up at him before turning her head to smile for the camera, letting out a nervous half laugh as he allowed his thumb to discreetly caress her lower back.

"Oliver! Wood! Who's your lady?" "Is she your date?!" "Is that an engagement ring?" "Are you romantically involved together?!" "Did you get engaged?" "Tell us about the beautiful girl, Mr. Wood!"

Twenty reporters were calling out to them as they posed for the cameras, holding out their wands in hopes of recording a juicy statement.

"Wood!" exclaimed a more familiar voice, causing the couple to turn and greet the Riggs.

"Riggs!" Laughed Oliver. "Meet my new fiancé!" he took Katie by the hand and wrapped the other arm around her waist as he presented her left hand to his good friend and captain.

"You said yes!" squealed Elizabeth, dropping some of the sophistication she had been exuding to pull Katie into an exuberant hug. "Oh my MERLIN, that's a big rock!" she said pulling back to look at Katie's ring again. The cameras were flashing a mile a minute as the reporters exclaimed over the sudden engagement.

"Lovely as ever, Miss Bell," laughed Riggs. "You keep this one in line," he said shaking his head with a smile.

"Hey, I'm the one who will do the keeping," joked Oliver as the group arranged themselves for another group shot. A few more smiles and they headed farther down the carpet to where Coach and the rest of the players were waiting for the group shots of the team as they walked in together. The sports editor for the Daily Prophet was with the Head of the Department of sports, Ludo Bagman doing some interviews on the carpet.

"Wood, come over here and say hello to Bagman, he's been speculating about the English National Team, and we like to think you're on the short list!" Burt waved them over with a smile.

"Wood, you've got the best keeping record in the league right now? What's your secret?" asked Rowlings, the sports editor from the Prophet.

"Well, she's actually on my arm right now," laughed Oliver smiling down at Katie who blushed.

"Well she's very lovely, but I didn't mean secret relationships. Where have you been hiding her and who is she?"

"Meet my previous teammate, longtime friend, and recent fiancé, Katie Bell. She's actually my good luck charm, so she's really the secret to my success this season," said Oliver with a wink.

"Is this true, Miss Bell?" asked Rowlings, sticking his wand in her face.

Surprised, Katie blinked and shook her head before she found herself answering. "What Oliver calls luck, I call the result of talent, hard work, and a lot of passion. Any success that can be attributed to me is probably in his head… although I have been cooking some healthy meals for him. I have it on good authority that his diet has been much better this season."

"Kates doesn't realize I'm keeping her around for more than the good food, I guess," laughed Oliver, surprised she had managed a great answer. "Guess I better prove her wrong." Leaning her over his arm, he planted one on her while Rowlings laughed and cameras flashed and Katie blushed red as a tomato under her foundation.

"Ollie!" she gasped as he pulled away.

"So, you mentioned a recent engagement? When's the wedding and do you think it might interfere with the World Cup Season this summer?" asked Bagman, stepping into the conversation.

"We're still planning a relatively small affair, but if the English Team decides to call me up, I'm ready to do my patriotic duty and step up to the broom," answered Oliver, hugging Katie tightly to his side. "We are of course hoping to spend more time together in the off season, but the world cup only comes around every four years."

"Yes, and this year the World Cup's going to be in southern Spain, how's that sound for a honeymoon? Huh?" suggested Bagman wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"If I'm an international quidditch player, surely I can afford to take my wife on a honeymoon that I don't have to work during!" laughed Oliver. "We'll let you know how things develop as far as a wedding, but for the honeymoon, we want to keep that a little more private. Maybe we'll keep those plans to ourselves, yeah? We'll see you inside. Thanks," answered Oliver.

"How red am I?" murmured Katie a few moments later as they passed into the stadium, the dreaded interviews and photos done with. Media would be limited inside the actual party, and the players could relax a little more. Interviews were conducted early in the night on the red carpet to allow for them to be published the next morning. She just hoped that she and Oliver weren't plastered on the cover of quidditch weekly's special edition tomorrow.

"You look beautiful, and you held up magnificently under the pressure. Great interview. You were born to be a quidditch wife!" laughed Elizabeth coming up beside her. "My first interview was awful, and I think I mentioned being a fan of the Pride as a girl. That was mortifying, considered I was on the arm of a member of their rival team!"

"That makes me feel a little better," laughed Katie. "So now what?"

"Now we enjoy the party until Bagman and the league directors decide to give a nice little speech before they distribute bonuses. Most teams get a nice big bonus to motivate players to keep up the good work over the break. Since this party is usually about halfway through, they give it out then. They act like it's a nice fat check, but most years it doesn't cover what I spend on dressing us for this bloody party," answered Elizabeth.

"I think you're talking about the jewelry I use to bribe you into coming to this, dear," laughed Riggs. "That's what my bonus is for, and from the looks of things, what Oliver spent his on this year as well."

"Those are really lovely," agreed Elizabeth. "Next year, make him buy you diamonds. They go with everything. This one keeps getting me colored stones just to keep me from wearing Portree's colors. Honestly, I just look marvelous in purple! It's rather too bad I can't wear it often."

The Riggs' kept their banter back and forth through dinner and the rest of the evening went over without a hitch.

The next morning, Katie awoke to the sound of an owl tapping at the window. Since Davie had spent the night at Mrs. Patterson's and they hadn't gotten in until past two in the morning, the couple had decided to have a bit of a lie in.

"Oliver, get the paper," she moaned, throwing her pillow over her head and burrowing deeper into the covers. She grinned as she felt Oliver roll over and out of bed to receive the mail. Sighing as she heard him shut the window as the bird took off, she let herself start drifting back into dreamland.

"Well last night was a bust. Somehow they managed to get you from an awful angle and now we're expecting a child any day now," said Oliver, interrupting her attempt to get back to sleep. She listened to him ruffling through the papers and her eyes shot open in alarm. "Didn't think it was possible, but maybe you're just not photogenic, luv," he said tossing the papers on the dresser.

"What!?" she exclaimed jumping out of bed as she realized what he was saying. She hurried over to the papers to see their faces decorating the cover. Narrowing her eyes at Oliver she felt her hand itching for her wand.

"You SNEAK!" she growled, poking her finger into his chest. "I look absolutely fine in these pictures!"

"I had to get you out of bed somehow," he laughed. "You look amazing in these pictures by the way, I'm sure the papers will be sending us personal prints if we ask for them."

"AHHHGGG!" she exclaimed throwing herself back onto the bed.

"Sorry luv, you're the one who made me get out of bed to get the papers, I couldn't resist messing with you," he said with a laugh, watching as she burrowed back under the covers.

"I'll get you back Oliver Wood, see if I don't," she mumbled darkly. "I wasn't friends with the Weasley Twins for nothing."

 **Thanks for reading!** **Please review**


	12. This is the Time

**So I had better finish this one next! Enjoy!**

Monday morning after the League Dinner, Oliver was up with the sun, anxiously sitting at the kitchen table waiting for the morning prophet. The paper was set to announce the seeds for the double elimination playoff tournament that would consume the world of professional quidditch for the next three months. The seeds were important and likely to determine if you made it to the final games. Higher seeds had the advantage of playing at home as well. Puddlemere was optimistic about a second seed with their 10-2 record, but there were no guarantees.

Katie sleepily drifted into the kitchen and began making French toast, the fact that she didn't have to be at the hospital until ten a blessing. She was currently doing a rotation with primary care medicine, which mostly consisted of routine visits by the elderly witch and wizard. A bit too simple if you asked her, but she had plenty of time to plan the wedding.

"Still no news?" she asked glancing at the clock. It was nearly seven thirty, and the fact that the post hadn't arrived was a bit unusual.

"Of course not," groaned Oliver pulling at his hair. "I'm guessing we will have a second seed and have an off week next week, but I want to know what the bracket looks like. The Falcons had a great run at the end of the season that could mean that their lower seed could knock out a higher seed pretty quickly. There are so many possibilities!"

"No sense in worrying too much, luv. I'm sure you guys will have a plan. The first games will be this weekend. If you have an off week, maybe you could take Davie to a couple games and sit in the players boxes. Take notes on the competition, if you will."

"That's a good idea, Kates. I'm guessing you're working this weekend?"

"Three night shifts in a row. I'm transitioning to a new rotation this weekend. I'm going to be working the bites ward, and this weekend happens to be a full moon."

"Well be careful," ordered Oliver with a frown just as Davie wandered into the kitchen, still wearing his pajamas. The sleepy little boy rubbed his eyes and sat down next to Oliver who filled a glass of pumpkin juice for him.

"It's here!" exclaimed Oliver, practically exploding to get the paper as the owl flew through the open window. The still half asleep Davie startled next to him and nearly spilled his juice if it hadn't been for a quick spell by Katie.

Minutes later, Katie smirked into her frying pan as Davie and Oliver discussed their weekend gameplan for attending the first round games with mouths half full of French toast.

Davie and Oliver watched the Cannons pull off a surprising win over the Wasps, Hollyhead destroy the Catapults, and Falmouth upset fourth seeded Portree. The Cannons were set to play Puddlemere in the next round, making for a shockingly easy match up. Oliver and Davie spent the entire weekend together, taking notes in their 'Secret Playbooks' and eating processed junk food that Katie never would have permitted in such large quantities. The Cannons and Wasps game went late into the night, Davie falling asleep in his seat before being startled awake at two A.M. when the Cannon's seeker caught the snitch, causing the crowd to roar with delight.

The following week Puddlemere destroyed the Cannons with Katie and Davie cheering loudly from the family box when Oliver shut out their chasers. His observations from the week before had really paid off. The small soon to be family spent the rest of the weekend at matches around the country where they took notes and ate too much junk food for the second week in a row, surprisingly Katie didn't raise an eyebrow to the multitude of donuts and hot dogs. Unfortunately, she was the one puking after the Hollyhead-Montrose match where she ate too much candy floss watching Hollyhead lose.

Week three was a loser's bracket week, with only teams that had already been eliminated once playing. They once again headed to the Hollyhead match, this time against the Pride of Portree, and when Katie found herself tossing up the candied pumpkin chips she bought to snack on, she ended up staying home for the rest of the weekend. Davie, however, had a blast attending the games with Oliver and his coach Burt and Burt's son Mikey. The two seven year olds may have escaped their guardians and explored the stadium for a few hours during the match that went over eight hours due to a particularly evasive snitch.

Week four, Puddlemere blew past the Magpies to reach the semifinals of the first round, a faceoff between the top two teams in the league as the Arrows had also cruised through the tournament to this point. That gave them time off for week five, which allowed them to watch both games. Hollyhead and Falmouth remained the most intensely fought rivalry in professional quidditch, the all witches team Hollyhead facing the wizard's only club of Falmouth. It proved to be one of the very best games of the playoffs, and when the Harpies won, the stadium positively rumbled with noise.

"Are you okay?"

"I've an awful headache from those Harpy fans," moaned Katie after the match. Davie had been exhausted and Ollie had put him to bed quickly upon returning home. He had returned to their room to find her lying on the bathroom floor.

"Why are you laying on the floor?" he asked, somewhat confused by his fiancée and her strange behavior.

"I felt a little dizzy and I have this headache… and I was brushing my teeth, and I just thought it best to lie down. The tile is lovely and cold. I almost even feel better," she explained.

"Come on, luv. Let's get you to bed," scoffed Oliver, bending over and picking her up.

"NO!" moaned Katie. "You are making the room spin, Wood!"

Oliver frowned, setting her in their bed. Putting his hand against her forehead he attempted to check her temperature. "You maybe feel a little clammy?" he said. "I'm not a healer!"

"I've been off for a couple of weeks, maybe I should go in and be evaluated before work. I could have picked something up when I was doing all those geriatric primary care appointments. Why don't you sleep on the sofa tonight in case I'm coming down with vanishing sickness or the dragon pox!" she suggested. "I don't want to give you anything during the playoffs."

"Let me get you a glass of water and some pajamas, then we'll go into the healer first thing tomorrow," suggested Oliver, concerned that Katie was feeling ill enough that she would see a healer. She never seemed to take care of herself first, so for her to go to the healer, she must really feel sick.

* * *

"Well, what's wrong with me then?" asked Katie, still feeling under the weather the next morning. They had dropped Davie off with Oliver's parents and come in on a Saturday. "Is it vanishing sickness? Did you run a test for Dragon Pox? I was in the infectious disease ward about a month and a half ago."

"Well, Healer Bell, it would seem you have a classic case of pregnancy. Nothing that won't resolve itself in a matter of months," drawled Healer Clearwater, the emergency ward Healer that had taken her case. "I can put you in for a referral to one of the teammembers up in the Labor and Delivery Ward. You are about six weeks along by my guess. I'm surprised you didn't notice the symptoms yourself."

"Merlin," gasped Katie, eyes wide as she looked over at a panicked looking Oliver.

"Good thing we're already planning an April wedding, huh?" he joked, causing her to sputter.

"Oliver!" she exclaimed. "The media catches wind of this and it will be all the papers talk about! What are we going to tell your parents?"

"Well, we don't have to tell anyone anything yet. Let's just set up a healer appointment for next week sometime, and we'll go from there. And I'm sure my parents will be thrilled," he answered calmly. "Besides, we were planning on starting a family eventually, this is just a little sooner than we planned. Heck, I told you I wanted an entire quidditch team, so I guess we had better start soon huh?"

"Ha. Ha. Not funny! We are not breeding an entire quidditch team like the Weasley's," Katie assured Brian Clearwater. "I couldn't possibly stand that many mini-Olivers running around."

Since Katie's pregnancy was a secret, naturally the entire team and their families knew by the time the next match rolled around.

"So I heard it's twins," said Bonnie, taking the seat beside Katie at the biggest game of the playoffs so far. The Number 1 Seeded Arrows were facing off the Second Seed United, and both were undefeated in the tournament so far. Whoever lost this game would be knocked down into the losers bracket and their only shot to win the tournament would require beating the winner of the Harpy-Magpie game running tomorrow. Katie was hoping Puddlemere won as that would mean she wouldn't have to sit through another game tomorrow, but she knew if they lost, Oliver would drag them all to Montrose to see the game. With a wedding and a pregnancy, she was more than a little overwhelmed.

"Don't even joke about something like that!" scolded Katie. "A set of Wood twins would surely destroy Hogwarts, or at least the quidditch pitch in their competitiveness. Can you imagine the quidditch battles!? No thank you. I'm hoping this one is a sweet girl who has a thing for having both feet solidly on the ground thank you very much. I don't need any more fanatics in this family than the two I already have."

"Didn't you play quidditch in school?" asked Bonnie with a frown. "Oliver said you were a great chaser!"

"I had a thing for the gryffindor captain…" sighed Katie. "But yes, my offspring is likely doomed to play this dangerous game. Maybe she'll be a seeker?"

Oliver took Katie and Davie for pizza after the game, the family celebrating one of the largest wizarding sporting victories of the past three years in a little hole in the wall in muggle London.

"So next week then?" pronounced Oliver, finishing off the last of his pizza.

"I guess so," answered Katie. "I mean, we sent out the invitations, telling everyone it would either be next week if Puddlemere won today, or it would be in four weeks after the tournament finished. We'll be married before the next time you step out onto the pitch for a professional game."

"It's not going to be too rushed for you? Everything is ready then?" he asked, looking over to see Davie playing an arcade game in the corner. "You're not having second thoughts are you?"

"Of course not, are you!?"

"Not possible… I've wanted this longer than you know, Kates," he answered taking her hand gently in his. "Everything will work out great, and we can let my parents know about the baby after the wedding. Maybe invite them along to that sonogram thing you have scheduled for the week after. I'm sure they would like that."

"Sounds like the perfect plan, Ollie," choked a hormonal and teary eyed Katie.

"I came up with it in my 'Super Secret Playbook'," he replied with a wink.

* * *

Oliver Wood wouldn't be Oliver Wood if he didn't get married on a quidditch pitch.

The Puddlemere pitch was decked out in the gold and blue team colors and bursting with flowers. Chairs had been set up on the pitch, and a small dais had been raised just below the home team hoops, where Oliver was frequently seen fifty feet in the air. White roses wrapped around the bases of the hoops all the way to the top, and long ribbons of gold and blue ribbon draped between them elegantly framing the dais. Oliver stood next to Percy and George Weasley and Riggs, his groomsmen while Leanne, Alicia, and Angelina lined up on the other side wearing golden dresses that looked elegant opposite the men's navy suits. Oliver was unable to suppress a boyish grin when his bride appeared in the middle of the field (via portkey bouquet of course), arm in arm with Davie who walked her down the aisle between the guests with all the self assurance and solemnity of a wizard ten times his age. And when the wizard overseeing the proceedings asked who gave this man to this woman, he proudly answered, "I do."

It was a beautiful ceremony, and the party afterwards wasn't too bad either. All of their friends had managed to make appearances, even the ever elusive Harry Potter who made a big show of kissing the bride while Oliver scowled. The party didn't die down until past three in the morning, but Davie had gone home with Mikey and his parents to spend the weekend. Although they couldn't take a honeymoon, they were going to spend a couple of days alone before Davie was returned to them on Tuesday.

As Oliver's parents saw them off, they invited them to the upcoming healer appointment, and Katie felt as if a huge burden had been lifted. Snuggling up to her _husband_ that night, she sighed contentedly just before falling asleep wondering at how different her life was from just nine months ago and how different it was sure to be in nine more.

 **Please review! I have maybe 2 or 3 more chapters left of "epilogues" that I have thought out. Love hearing what you think! Thanks so much for sticking with this story! Keep your eyes peeled for my sequel to this one. E.A.**


	13. Epilogue: The River of Dreams

The morning after the wedding, the papers announced that the final would be between Appleby and Puddlemere, and noted the large number of celebrities and players missing from the game the previous day. It was not yet known by the media, but the reason for most absences was Katie and Oliver's celebrity packed wedding.

Katie and Oliver spent the first few days of their marriage quietly by themselves as Robert and Aileen and Burt and Bonnie were taking turns taking care of Davie. On Wednesday, they went in for their healer appointment to have their first ultrasound. Katie was excited, but Oliver was a little leery of the muggle technology.

"Well, there's your baby," said the healer, moving the ultrasound wand over Katie's stomach. "Ohh… and there's…"

"Oh Merlin," interrupted Katie. "Bonnie jinxed us!"

"What? What's wrong with the baby?"

"Nothing at all love. Both of them are just fine," replied Katie with a shake of her head.

"You mean it's twins?" asked Oliver.

"Merlin… Wood twins could be just as bad as Weasley twins…"

"Maybe they will be beaters!" exclaimed Oliver.

The morning of the finals against the Appleby Arrows was a typical grey English day, misting rain, cool spring temperatures. The game was being held at Puddlemere, and the family box was packed. Davie and Katie were sardined into a row with the entire eight member Russell family. Katie couldn't help but feel Bonnie's exhaustion watching her herd all seven of their kids into line. A whole quidditch team was just too much.

The snitch was nowhere to be seen, and the chasing battle was the most intense England had seen in years. Oliver was doing a magnificent job holding his own against the Arrows expert chasers, but Puddlemere was still struggling and the game went back and forth for several hours.

It was after an especially expert save by Oliver that the seekers began streaking toward their goal, hovering quite close to the referee's ankles.

The roar in the Puddlemere box as their seeker Lexi lifted the snitch in a tight fist above her head was so loud that Katie could feel the stands rumbling beneath her feet. Dancing around with Davie, the fans began to storm the field, an English quidditch tradition as the players took their victory laps.

Coach Russel and Oliver, along with the team flew up to the family box to greet their families, wide grins on their sweaty and bright faces.

"Hop on Davie!" exclaimed Oliver after one of the wives had tapped the glass with their wand allowing her to kiss her victorious husband. Without a glance to Katie, Davie swung up on the broom behind Oliver as Mikey did the same with his father. Oliver leaned down and kissed his newly minted bride before swooping back down toward the field with a squealing Davie behind him.

"Well we better get down there before they lose our boys," laughed Bonnie. Katie and Bonnie made it down to the field, arriving as the chaos died down and the players landed to accept the giant cup trophy that many a butterbeer had been guzzled from over the years.

Each player made a brief speech, and Katie's eyes welled with tears as Oliver thanked his beautiful wife, his parents, and his son for their love and support during the quidditch season with Davie perched on his shoulder. When they finally met up after the brief press conference, she didn't even blush as Oliver pulled her in for a kiss, Davie still on his shoulder. The cameras were of course clicking away, but she couldn't begrudge them their first public photos since their marriage the weekend prior.

How they managed not to lose each other in the crowd with all of the fans grasping to shake Oliver's hand, snap a quick photo, or beg an autograph was amazing. They finally made it to the locker room where Oliver bid goodbye to his adoring fans and Katie and Davie escaped down a narrow hallway to floo to the Russell's for the impromptu celebration that Burt had announced to the team minutes after the win was declared.

Katie could remember when they won the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup Oliver's seventh year, and she wondered if that was the last time Oliver had grinned quite that wide. That night at the party they danced, Oliver drank, Davie fell asleep under a table with Mikey, and Katie laughed so much she cried at the antics of the team.

That night, snuggled in bed with her husband, Katie couldn't help but feel so happy for Oliver that she started crying.

Startled out of his semi-drunken haze, he rolled over. "What's wrong luv?"

"I'm just so happy for you! It's the happiest day of your life! You won the English Quidditch Cup! And you're a shoe in for the National team this summer." she mumbled through her tears.

"Merlin, woman. The happiest day of my life was the day you married me. Sure, winning the cup is great, but we get another go next year. I only got to marry you once."

Oliver was a little bewildered when this just made Katie sob harder and mumble something about pregnancy hormones.

Katie's prediction came to pass as Oliver was announced as the first string keeper for the English National team. Practices started up almost immediately following the end of the English season, and Katie was starting to really gear up to take her HAREs- Healer Accreditation Residency Exams. With the stress of her exams and being pregnant, Davie spent quite a bit of time over at Bonnie' Russell's house when he wasn't at daycare. As summer set in, the games started, the first few rounds occurring around the globe before the final games were played in the host country, this year being hosted in Italy.

England's first round was in Sweden, and Oliver and Davie made a boys trip of it. Spending the week together as England played the first two rounds against Norway and Sweden. The next round was played in the south of France, which made for a lovely honeymoon trip. Katie and Oliver spent the week relaxing on a beach between the matches. It helped that her HAREs were taken the week before and she only had to wait on her results.

By the time England made it to round three, after soundly beating the French and the Russians, Katie was too far along in her pregnancy to travel internationally. Davie and Oliver headed to southern Italy for the final round before the World Cup Finals. England ended up losing a spot in the final game to the would-be victors from Egypt.

Ollie and David stayed and watched the final game play out between Egypt and Denmark, an amazing 2 day match up that went nearly thirty hours without a single snitch sighting. Oliver and Davie became convinced gelato was the solution to the world's problems. The two went through gallons of it in the ten days they spent on the Amalfi coast, bringing back a souvenir tub of it for Katie.

In addition to his commitments to the English National team, Oliver managed to coach the Woodchucks again with Davie and Mikey on the team. Whenever he couldn't make practice, Katie managed to take off work and captain the team, her experience as a chaser helping tremendously although her advanced pregnancy meant she couldn't fly during practices.

By late August, the Wood twins were due to arrive any day. Davie wasn't back at school yet, but Puddlemere was practicing again with their first games already won. Aileen was spending a few days a week with Katie and Davie, helping Katie with the heavy lifting and generally helping her out at the pregnancy approached term and became more exhausting. It was nice to have a mum to take care of things for her, and Katie had really connected with her in-laws in the past six months. Davie had warmed up to the older couple as well, calling them Gran and Grandad.

August thirty first, found Katie reclined on one of the sofas with a fan blowing over her. It was unseasonably hot, and she felt incredibly uncomfortable without a fan and a cooling charm these days. Davie and Oliver had gone to the park for quidditch practice and were due home soon, and she was trying to nap a little before she got up and made some dinner. She was pretty sure she had a casserole in the back of the icebox.

She heard the boys arrive with a whoosh of the floo in the other room and the pounding of small feet indicated that Davie was probably off to his room. She kept her eyes shut, not bothering to look as she heard Oliver enter the room slowly and quietly. She could hear him walking around, but just resting with the cool breeze was so pleasant she didn't have the strength to open her eyes.

Finally opening them, she lifted her head to see Oliver pacing in front of the window, a somber expression on his face as he stared out at the London skyline.

"What's wrong luv?" she asked, propping herself up with a pillow.

"The twins are going to miss the express!" Oliver finally announced the reason for his distress.

"Well I was hoping they would. They will get to stay home with us another year," she replied, rubbing her very distended belly.

"I didn't think of that… I was just thinking they wouldn't want to miss it. Plus then they will be home to play quidditch a whole extra year!" joked Oliver.

"Sometimes I swear quidditch is all you think about," laughed Katie. "The twins will get here when they get here. Probably a few more days at least."

September fifteenth found Katie flooing to St. Mungo's. Oliver and Davie were at Woodchuck's practice, so she had left a letter on the table letting them know she was in labor and to meet her at the hospital. Her back had been aching all day, but that was usual, so when her water had broken late in the afternoon, she had grabbed her hospital bag with the aplomb of a witch who had given birth hundreds of times and left for the hospital. So maybe she hadn't given birth before, but she was a healer who had assisted at hundreds of births, especially since she was planning to specialize in obstetrics.

Oliver and Davie arrived back from practice sweaty and hot, but laughing as they apparated into the kitchen. Oliver could immediately tell that Katie wasn't home and spotted a letter on the table. Quickly perusing the contents, he immediately went into a panic.

"Let's quick scrub up, Davie," he said walking to the sink and sticking his head under the faucet. Washing his face and his hair with dish soap. "Mum's off to the hospital to have the babies and we had better meet her there." Davie obediently went and washed his hands and face in the bathroom, while Oliver continued to make a mess in the kitchen. Oliver ran around the apartment quickly, grabbing the camera, but forgetting the film.

"Ready to go?" asked Davie, his Marvin the Mad Muggle toys in a small lunch box. He wanted to show them to the new babies.

"Probably forgetting something, but we need to be going, I'll just send an owl to Gran and Grandad."

They floo-ed into the Lobby at St. Mungo's, still wearing their Woodchuck's practice clothes, Oliver's hair still damp. Oliver had the camera slung over his head and Davie was carrying his Marvin the mad muggle lunch box. Oliver hurried toward the elevators to press the button, but was distracted by the fresh floral scent radiating from the small gift shop.

"Let's get some flowers for mum," he said, steering Davie into the little shop.

"How about some flowers for my little sister?" asked Davie.

"Wood's always have boys," laughed Oliver ruffling Davie's hair. "We don't have to worry about that."

"Since Katie's more my mum than a sister, it would be nice to have a little sister though," replied Davie eyeing a bouquet of daisies. "I want to get a bouquet just in case."

"One bouquet of red roses, and the daisies for the little man," laughed Oliver.

Armed with their flowers, the two headed up to the maternity ward, getting directions from a little witch at the entrance to the unit. As they approached the door, Oliver felt himself shaking with nerves before a small hand clasped his comfortingly.

"It's okay, Dad. You're going to be great," said David grinning up at Oliver. Feeling tears in his eyes, Oliver bent down and pulled Davie into a tight hug. He could tell Davie had been working up the nerves for this for a while, as the boy had continued to call him Ollie or Oliver or even Coach. They had long decided that the twins would be raised with Davie as a brother, not an uncle, but they had never officially established that Oliver would be called Dad. That was up to Davie, a personal decision. Obviously with the new babies, he had decided to give the title to Oliver.

"Thanks, you're going to be a great big brother, son," he said into Davie's soft golden blond hair.

Hand in hand, the two headed into the room after a short knock followed by a call to enter to find Katie already glowing with motherhood. A bundle in each arm, she looked tired but content as the healers bustled around the room taking care of charting and getting things in order.

"I missed it!" exclaimed Oliver, startling one of the healers, but not either of the babies who were apparently used to his booming voice from their time in the womb.

"Sorry luv, maybe next time," laughed Katie. "You're just in time to see them all cleaned up. Get over here and say hi, Davie."

Davie scurried across the room, forgetting he was eight, and much too big for kisses as he pressed one to Katie's cheek.

"So this is your brother," said Katie, showing off a small bundle wrapped in green, his bright eyes already showing signs of turning green like his mother's, a patch of dark hair on his head.

"He's gorgeous, Kate," whispered Oliver, setting the flowers on the bedside and leaning over to kiss his wife.

"He's handsome," scolded Katie. " _She's_ gorgeous." She lifted the little yellow bundle in her left arm so Oliver could see the perfect rosebud mouth and the delicate blond hair of their daughter.

Oliver reached out and lifted the bundle. "It's a girl?" he whispered, leaning down so Davie could see his new sister.

"I brought her some daisies!" exclaimed Davie, grabbing the bouquet from the stand as the little girl's eyes popped open, taking in her older brother for the first time. "I'm your brother," he informed her, smiling at her. Her little mouth moved as she focused on him, before her cloudy grey eyes turned a bright green. Gasping, Davie stepped back and dropped his flowers.

"Her eyes!" exclaimed Oliver. "They changed!" He pulled the baby back to look closer and the family gasped as the blonde hair wavered to match Oliver's chestnut.

"She's a metamorphmagus!" laughed Katie. "Well we know she'll be going to Hogwarts."

"What should we name her?" laughed Oliver as her eyes changed color to match his bright blue eyes.

"I always wanted an Olivia," said Katie. "With Wood's being so prone to boys, I had better name this one Olivia, who knows if I'll get a second chance."

"And the boy?"

"I know you were set on Oliver Robert, I'll name the next one," laughed Katie.

"But we're going to call him Robbie," announced Davie. "And Livie. Robert and Olivia are much too big names for babies."

"Perfect," laughed Katie, smiling at her husband still holding their tiny daughter in awe.

"How soon can we teach them quidditch?" he asked, causing her to roll her eyes.

Seven years later:

A fifteen year old Davie streaked across the yard on his broom. He and Oliver were practicing again, making up moves for the quidditch team that Davie had made captain this year. They had been at it all summer long, and Katie wished they had spent a little more of that time inside, helping her.

Robbie and Livie were pouting in the house. Kenny, their four year old, had been fighting practically non-stop with their three year old Quinton. It also didn't help that she was pregnant again. Merlin help her if it was another boy. Turning away from the kitchen window she watched Olivia sneaking up on her older brother. Laughing, she watched her tackle him and steal the quaffle he was playing with and run from the room.

Within a few hours all five of her kids would be out on their brooms with Oliver, playing quidditch. Little Kenny fancied himself a keeper and Robbie and Livie weren't really much of a chasing threat yet. Quin was just along for the ride.

Rubbing her stomach absently, she wondered if this little one would love quidditch as much as his siblings (he was sure to be a boy). Maybe he would be a beater, the way he smacked her bladder around all day. With a sigh she headed for the bathroom. She was exhausted on a daily basis, worn down from raising five children and working thirty hours a week in the maternity ward at the hospital. However, she didn't have any complaints because she had a husband who loved her, and was pretty good about cooking dinner and helping clean the house, and five adorable munchins that she loved to death. Life wasn't too bad.

"Mummy!" she heard a shrill cry. Turning, she spotted her youngest two fighting over one of the toy brooms. "Wanna pway k'ditch!" exclaimed Kenny. What would she do with all these Woods?

 **Thanks for reading! I have a story all about Livie and Robbie planned and 14 chapters already written! Fans of my maurauders story will recognize a few characters from the next gen, but it's a stand alone fic. It's probably one of my favorite things I've written, and I hope you check it out! It will have a bit of Katie and Oliver, and a whole lot of fun. First Chapter is up today! Thanks for continuing to read and review! E.A.**


End file.
